Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005 | 8:22 a.m.
Carl Edwards has competed in a grand total of 46 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series races in his young career and already he is contending for a championship.
With three races remaining in the Chase for the Nextel Cup, Edwards trails series leader Tony Stewart by 107 points. But he just might lead the circuit in confidence.
"I feel really good going into these last three races," Edwards, 26, said this week. "I don't feel a lot of pressure -- I hope that's good. We're really in the underdog slot; nobody expects us to win this championship other than us, really."
Even though he struggled to a 19th-place finish after being involved in an early wreck in the spring race at Texas Motor Speedway, Edwards is optimistic going into Sunday's Dickies 500 at the 1.5-mile oval.
"The cars, I think, are a little bit better and my car and team -- with the way we work together -- all of that has improved and grown since that first (Texas) race," Edwards said. "So I really feel great going to Texas to be honest with you.
"I think we have an opportunity to run just as well there as we did at Atlanta. I think Texas is about as good as it gets for us right now on the schedule."
Edwards, who ran 13 Cup races last year for Roush Racing before taking over the No. 99 Ford full time this season, earned his third victory of the season last weekend in Atlanta. He said he already has exceeded his own expectations. He also said he isn't concerned that others will expect him to continue to compete at this level.
"I really don't care what people expect of me or what they think of me," Edwards said. "I go out and do this and have been motivated to win from the first time I started racing until now, and I've treated each race with the same level of intensity.
"Yes, there will be kind of an inherent expectation that we all kind of carry around ... (but) I don't really feel any extra pressure. I don't think there's any reason to be scared of success -- ever."
A FORCE OF ONE
After losing the funny car points lead two weeks ago in Las Vegas, 13-time NHRA champion John Force said he is changing his game plan going into this weekend's season-ending NHRA finals in Pomona, Calif.
Gary Scelzi leads Ron Capps by 2 points, and Force is 28 points back in the closest championship battle in the history of the category.
Force, who spent three days testing at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after the Oct. 23 ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals, said he would try to establish a national elapsed time record to get the 20 bonus points that accompany such a mark. Force holds the records for both quickest (4.665 seconds) and fastest (333.58 mph) funny car runs.
"We want to go into Pomona and try to set the national record because we might need that if we're going to win (the championship)," Force said.
"When we come out of the box, we're not going to just put it in the show, we're going to run as hard and push it to the max of what that track will hold and try to get the national record."
ALSO NOTED:
* The Champ Car World Series will conclude its 2005 season Sunday with the 70-lap Gran Premio Telmex-Tecate on the 16-turn, 2.786-mile Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course in Mexico City. Sebastien Bourdais clinched his second consecutive season championship two weeks ago in Australia.
* Many of the top IMCA Modified and Western Dirt Late Model Series drivers will be at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday and Saturday for the eighth annual Duel in the Desert. Spectator gates open at 5 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday. A complete schedule can be found at www.lvms.com.
BY THE NUMBERS:
107 -- The number of points separating the top five drivers in the NASCAR Nextel Cup standings with three races remaining.
3 -- The number of victories Las Vegas native Kyle Busch has recorded in eight NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts this season.
0 -- The number of repeat winners in the nine NASCAR Nextel Cup Series races held at Texas Motor Speedway since 1997.
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