Kickin' It With Carl

Carl Edwards led 103 laps at Pocono on Sunday -- 54 more laps than he'd led all season. Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Carl Edwards has agreed to do a diary Q&A with SI.com biweekly this season. Coming off a second-place finish that left him sixth in points, Carl dishes on his best run of the year to date, which has him optimistic the No. 99 team is just hitting its stride. Plus, his take on the possibility of Danica Patrick as a teammate, double-file restarts, and launching into some love ... for LeBron? It's all here in the latest edition of Kickin' It With Carl.

SI.com: Let's talk about Pocono. To put your run in perspective, you led 103 laps in this race ... 54 more than you'd led all year up to that point. How refreshing for you was it to have a car that dominant once again?

Carl Edwards: Yeah, that was great. That's what we do this for, is to have cars like that. We just need to focus on running that way over and over to have the type of season that we had last year. Obviously, I wanted to win ... but it was a good points day. So, I was frustrated because we didn't win the race, but I was extremely excited about how we performed, how our pit crew did, and our points situation. If we're like that every weekend, we're going to win lots of races.

SI.com: When did you realize during the race you had a car capable of winning? Do those types of cars have a "special feel" to them?

CE: About halfway through the race, I realized it. We were leading the race, and I lost the lead on one of the restarts and got it back. At that point, when I can repeatedly go to the front and run laps faster than the rest of the field, that's when I know, "Hey, we've got something to work with here."

Obviously, at the end, Tony got his car a lot faster, but even then, I still felt confident. If you've only got to race one or two guys, that's the key. If you're the third-fastest car, fourth-fastest car, then you start thinking, "What's the best finish we can get?" But when your car's as good as mine was Sunday, you think, "Hey, we can win this thing!"

Of course, saving fuel at the end of the race kept you from making a real charge at Tony Stewart for the lead. How difficult was it to balance the need to save fuel with a racer's natural desire to catch the guy in front of you?

We won three races last year with fuel mileage, and I feel very confident when it comes down to that type of race. I feel like both our engines and the way I drive the cars leaves us a good shot to win 'em. So, I like it. It's not something I'm scared of... it's something I look forward to. But it's stressful. You can't let your emotions get hold of you, because when you've been racing for four hours, as fast as you can go, to all of a sudden slow down and step back in the name of fuel mileage is very, very tough.

SI.com: Did you know Tony was going to make it?

CE: No. I was almost certain he was going to run out of fuel. So, he really surprised me. If I knew he was going to make it to the end, I would definitely have gone a little bit faster. But I would have been taking a huge risk; I say that right now, but if we finished 15th because I ran that thing out of fuel, or 20th, that would have been a terrible, terrible day. We moved up five or six spots in the points by finishing second, and that was huge.

SI.com: You've had one race under your belt now with the double-file restarts -- starting both up front and in the middle of the pack. Did you find you were doing anything differently on those restarts, and do you think they had a successful debut?

CE: Well, it gives everyone but the leader a chance to get up there and get an advantage. The only thing I think is the leader needs to start by himself in front of the two guys behind him. Because you work hard to get that lead, and to start right next to somebody, it just doesn't seem quite right.

In general, though, the idea of starting the cars double-file with all the leaders up front is one of the best moves NASCAR's done in a really long time. It's going to be great for the fans.

SI.com: Carl, there's so much talk about rivalries in this sport, but I notice one thing that you try and subscribe to -- if it's not in the heat of the moment -- is, "If I don't have anything nice to say to someone, don't say it at all." You did that recently with Kyle Busch, refusing to comment on his guitar-smashing incident because you felt it wasn't your place to do so.

But in a sport like NASCAR, how do you balance that philosophy with people always wanting to know your opinion on specific drivers and what they did?

CE: Here's the thing. I can just tell you that I believe that about 90% of the media right now is basically just "shock value." They're not adding anything positive, just writing something that gets people's attention -- and that supposedly makes it worthy as news. Just because a picture of someone famous in some sort of compromising position, or shocking photo, or shocking revelation about someone's opinion on something ... I just don't think it matters. I don't think it does anything good for the world. And I don't think talking bad about people through the media is good, either. I don't think it teaches anybody any good lessons... I just don't think it's right.

So, it's real simple. If you don't have something good to say, don't say it. Now obviously in the heat of the moment, I've said things and done things -- that happens. But to sit back and comment on other crap that you don't know much about, I think that's the worst.

I've had to read ignorant peoples' comments about things in regards to me, and they don't know me. They don't know what's going on. I have no respect for those people, zero. So, in regard to Kyle, I wasn't there. I wasn't in Victory Lane. Why would I comment on that?