Edwards enjoying Busch as Cup drought stretches
Carl Edwards is rolling strong and enjoying his time in the Busch Series. He hopes to get back to Victory Lane in Nextel Cup soon, writes David Newton.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Carl Edwards ran his left hand through his hair as he stood outside his hauler last weekend at Martinsville Speedway.
Well, what's left of it.
Edwards got a buzz cut at a Martinsville mall as part of a bet with crew chief Bob Osborne. It was one of those "if-you-do-it-I'll-do-it" games men like to play.
While Edwards was in the chair with a No. 2 blade, his motorcoach driver was getting his hair done -- sort of.
Tom Giacchi vowed in November 2005 not to shave until Edwards won another Nextel Cup race. His beard is so long now that one of the salon workers spent 30 minutes straightening it with a flat iron.
"It looks ridiculous," Edwards said of the beard that recently was measured at over six inches. "He wants to shave badly."
But no worse than Edwards wants to win so Giacchi can shave.
The last time the Columbia, Mo., native visited Victory Lane in a Cup car was Nov. 6, 2005, when he won at Texas Motor Speedway to give him consecutive wins and four for the season.
Edwards was on such a roll then that Giacchi didn't think twice about making the wager.
"I was feeling good," said Giacchi, 32, who grew up on the same block with Edwards. "I felt we would win again at Phoenix or Homestead. I never thought it would take this long. But we're real close. I can feel it."
The closest Edwards has come to victory since was a second at Dover in September. His best finish this season was a sixth at Las Vegas three weeks ago.
But Edwards agrees with Giacchi that he's on the verge of doing one of his patented victory backflips again. He's had two top-10 finishes in the first six races and is ninth in points heading into the Easter break.
"We're gonna win one," said Edwards, who finished 12th in points last season. "Don't worry. It's going to be good. It feels like our team is picking up."
Too bad Giacchi's promise didn't include the Busch Series. Edwards has won six times in NASCAR's secondary series since his last Cup win, including two weeks ago at Bristol.
He also leads the Busch standings, where many predicted he would be before the season as one of the few Cup regulars driving a full schedule.
"I kick myself for not doing that," Giacchi said of betting on a Busch win. "I would have been shaved in May of 2006."
Giacchi aside, Edwards is enjoying his position in the Busch Series.
"I haven't had that feeling since I drove on the dirt tracks," he said.
Edwards grew up on half-mile dirt tracks with 25-lap features. His story since then has been well documented.
He lived in the basement of his mother's house and worked as a substitute teacher and in construction while hoping to land a ride. Things became so desperate that he passed out business cards that read, "My name is Carl Edwards and I want to drive your race car."
Edwards finally got his big break when Jack Roush signed him in 2003 to drive in the Craftsman Truck Series. He was so impressive that Roush tabbed him as the future replacement for Mark Martin in the No. 6 when Martin originally planned to retire after 2005.
That changed when Jeff Burton left the organization midway through the 2004 season. Edwards jumped into the No. 99 Ford and started a meteoric rise to stardom.
He made the Chase for the Nextel Cup in 2005 and finished tied for second with teammate Greg Biffle, 35 points behind champion Tony Stewart.
The backflips and his relationship with Olympic gold medalist Amanda Beard only added to Edwards' popularity. He was featured in June 2005 as one of People magazine's 50 hottest bachelors and his six-pack abs have been featured prominently in ESPN The Magazine.
Through it all, Edwards has remained the same "gosh, shucks" guy that passed out business cards. He doesn't drive in both series because he has to. He does it because he wants to.
While most in the Cup series enjoy the Easter weekend, he'll be in Nashville, Tenn., defending his title in the Busch race (ESPN2, 3 p.m. ET).
"Every now and again I think, 'Man, it would be nice to go do something [on an off weekend],' " Edwards said. "But I really love racing."
He wouldn't know what to do with a weekend off, anyway.
"Growing up, I didn't understand what a nap was," Edwards said. "I was like, 'What do you mean we're going to go take a nap?' I just like to drive race cars. It doesn't make much of a difference to me if they have wings or don't."
He drives them well, too, just not good enough to get Giacchi to shave anything but his head these days.
"It's funny," Giacchi said. "People ask me every weekend, 'Do you think this will be the time?' It's really not that big of a deal anymore. It was tough to get dates at first, but now I've met someone.
"What's important is we're doing well, top-10 in points. That's what I want for Carl now, really. I want him to be in the top 12 [and make the Chase]. So if he finishes 10th or fifth the rest of the way out, that's really good."
David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at dnewtonespn@aol.com.
