Edwards speeds toward Busch title

~ Nextel Cup driver sees rewards of committing to full Busch schedule.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Carl Edwards never came close to winning the Busch Series title last season, when Kevin Harvick humiliated the competition with a near-flawless run to the championship.

Harvick wrapped up the title with a month to go and finished with an outrageous 824-point lead over runner-up Edwards.

"I'm pretty proud to keep it under 1,000 points," Edwards joked after the season finale.

Still, he was determined to put together a better showing, so he decided to run the full Busch schedule this season.

That 35-race commitment gives the NASCAR star almost no break during the grueling February-to-November season. It's a never-ending circus of jumping in and out of cars, shuttling between garages and crisscrossing the country on private planes to make every event.

While other Cup stars were scuba diving, sunbathing or skiing last weekend, Edwards was racing in Nashville, where he won his second straight Busch race.

"Don't get me wrong, I love going to the Bahamas and taking vacations," Edwards said Monday while taking a break during a bicycle ride in his home state of Missouri. "But winning a race? When we were flying home after with the trophy, I thought 'What a great Saturday.'

"There's nothing better than winning a race, and if you aren't entered in them, you can't win them."

Seven races in, Edwards is loving his schedule.

His win Saturday opened his lead in the Busch standings to 321 points over Dave Blaney. At this point last year, Harvick only led by 146 points.

Barring a collapse, Edwards should run away with this title faster than Harvick did. But Edwards hasn't cleared a spot for the championship trophy just yet. Past experience -- particularly at Nashville -- has taught him how quickly a title can be lost.

Edwards was leading the Busch Series standings when he headed into Nashville in 2005. The race was held in June that season and wasn't a companion to the Cup event, which was being held at Pocono Raceway the following day.

It rained most of the day in Nashville and cleared just in time for NASCAR to attempt a start. But the skies opened up again during the pace laps, and the race was postponed a day.

Edwards had to pack up and go to Pocono, forfeiting any points from the Busch race. Although he won the Cup race that day, skipping the Nashville start cost him the Busch lead and he never recovered.

"That was a tough one. That really hurt," said Edwards, who finished third in the 2005 Busch standings. "I didn't realize how bad it hurt us there until the end of the year came around and we needed those points."

Once the schedule splits this summer, and four Busch races are held at different venues than the Cup events, Edwards knows one rainy day could shrink his lead dramatically.

"I guess that's what makes it interesting," he said. "Let's just say we miss all four of those, most likely it will be hard to win the championship. Or let's say we will definitely miss two of them because of weather, it would eat up any lead and make it really interesting.

"I understand how it can go, anything can happen. But if we can keep running like this, we'll be prepared for the worst."

Everything went according to plan for Harvick last season, but it wore him down so much he vowed to never again run both series.

Edwards has yet to tire from the grind.

For him, every opportunity in a race car is treasured. Remember, Edwards was substitute teaching not too long ago, placing ads in trade magazines and passing out business cards in his relentless push to get noticed.

He got his break with Jack Roush in 2004 and has yet to tire from the grind. Although some drivers lament the draining schedule, Edwards can't get enough of it.

"We had a little circle down the street that we rode our bicycles around in the dirt and man, I'd go run 100-lap features by myself just imagining I was racing when I was a kid," he said. "I think that's what a lot of these guys, Kenny Schrader and Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon, all those guys ... I think they really enjoy driving.

"I think we're happiest when we are driving race cars. I was thinking about it with a couple laps to go, it was like 'I'm leading the race, it's a holiday weekend and I am doing exactly what I love to do and people are paying me for it?'