Kickin' It With Carl: Texas Edition

Carl Edwards' wreck at Texas officially ended his championship hopes. AP

Carl Edwards has agreed to do a biweekly diary Q&A with SI.com this season. In his latest edition, he speaks candidly about meeting Blake Bobbitt at Talladega, the fan injured by flying debris when Carl's No. 99 nearly sailed through the fence during a wild last-lap flip in April. But that's not the only wreck he's been through as of late. He discusses the disappointment of his Texas tango with Juan Pablo Montoya, tells us how to date a famous athlete, and discusses his latest "cameo" TV appearance. Here's a clue: Bob Barker would be proud.

Talk about Texas. Just one of those days you'd like to forget, right? (Carl finished 39th).

Well, we had a really good race car. I think we had a good shot at a top 5 finish, maybe even better, and Juan [Montoya] got sideways and just clipped the rear of me while he was trying to correct it and catch his car. That ended our day. So it's frustrating, but it's auto racing, and things like that are going to happen.

Can you think of a year where you've had more weird stuff go on?

Well, you always have things happen. There's always stuff that can slow you down. But this year, we haven't had the on-track performance, the level of speed we need to overcome a bunch of that stuff. You fight all day and you're running seventh, and that's as good as you're going to run. You have something go bad and it puts you back in the field, it's really hard to make that ground up. But when you've got a winning race car, it's hard to keep a car like that down.

So the little things, the accidents, show up more when you're running worse.

You talked about afterwards how with the nature of these cars, if you get side-by-side with someone it'll automatically make you loose. Do you think that's something the sport should look at as it works to make changes to the car for 2011, or is it part of the challenge of driving these things?

Yeah, I don't know if you can make a car go this fast not have that tendency because of the airflow around the vehicle. The blame of the accident is partly because of a car being on the outside of him, and that loosened him up a little bit. I don't know if there's a way to fix that, but we all know it's there. And we all know that when a car's on the outside of you, you're going to be looser. Some guys run right against your race car going into the corner and try to get you loose -- but in this case, I had given him more than enough room. He just drove in a little bit too hard.

Now, after hearing Montoya's comments about you causing the crash, have you talked to him since?

It was interesting what Juan said ... he initially tried to put the blame of the accident on me. I thought that was pretty interesting. Well, we talked about it, and he sure didn't say the same things he said on television. So I think he had a little bit of time to sit and look it over. When I went over to talk to him, he was like, "Hey. I just got loose, man, I'm sorry I hit you." I think anybody with two eyes and paying attention to the replay could tell I gave him plenty of room.

He had a really good chance to make up some ground in the points, and that mistake cost him a lot, so I can understand his frustration.

That wreck officially eliminated you from championship contention, although it's been a longshot for a few weeks. Talk about the disappointment of knowing for sure the title won't happen this year.

Well, we'll just go out and race as hard as we can. I'm going to drive as hard as I can, just like I've been doing. Nothing's going to be different, but this whole season's been [a struggle]. We just haven't been able to get the results that we need to get and perform the way we need to perform. So now, I'm truly watching the championship as a fan, and what's going on with Jimmie and Mark is great. Those are two guys on the opposite ends of the spectrum as far as their paths and their place in the sport. To see them battle, that's as good as it gets.

Looking ahead to the final two races, how have you realigned your goals for the season? What do you think a realistic finish in the point standings would be?

I'm simply going to try and make it into the top 10. (Edwards is 11th right now, 41 points behind 10th place Kasey Kahne). I want to go to Vegas for the banquet. I want to be able to represent my sponsors and get that dinner on NASCAR. That's a nice, nice thing and I'd like to be there. Plus, I hear we get to roast Jimmie, or whoever ends up being the champion, so that'll be kind of fun.

Over at Roush, it's been such a tough year for the whole organization. So how has a win by a team like Jamie McMurray's motivate the whole group even though they're a lame duck program?

Yeah, we can do it. Matt Kenseth, his performance at Texas and at Charlotte, those were strong, strong races. And Jamie winning at Talladega, it shows me that we can do it, and I believe we will. We just have to apply all these things. The biggest thing to me is to finish the season strong as a team. As a unit, it's not one individual team. We have to have some bright spots to look towards so we can build this team for next year and go out and be where we'd like to be.

Let's go back to Talladega for a second, because I know you got a chance to meet Blake Bobbitt, the girl who was injured by the flying debris. What type of experience was that for you?

Blake Bobbitt is a very cool girl. The whole family was really nice to get to talk to. It really meant a lot to me and to everyone that I spoke with from NASCAR and from our team and the track that she came there, supported the races, and believed in what we were doing. She wasn't angry, or didn't come there with a motive for anything other than to enjoy the race. That really meant a lot.

All year, you've been asked about Talladega, as the wreck has pretty much been your biggest highlight of '09. But was meeting someone like Blake the type of moment that made you realize how significant that crash was?

Oh yeah. To be able to stand there and talk to her, and realize that something just a little bit different happening, she might not be standing there ...

People can say whatever they want. I read what people write. I read a few things about people bashing the drivers [about wanting to make the racing safer]. But you just go spend about 30 seconds with Blake and hear her story, and those people wouldn't write those stories and wouldn't say those things. There's nothing wrong with making things safe, especially for the fans.