Everyone talks about win streaks, whether they be in the NFL, NCAA, hockey, baseball, etc. It’s a sign of things going good, and when the streak ends, it is sad to see but it’s also still a chance to look at how good a team or squad was in that time.
Winless streaks, on the other hand, aren’t exactly something that people like to talk about, unless things are going so bad that it can’t be ignored. It’s like when the Detroit Lions went 0-16 a few years ago. This year it’s the LA Lakers that had winless streaks hanging over their heads.
In NASCAR, the two that were most talked about were those of Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Gordon had two winless streaks between 2007 and 2009, and then from 2009 till 2011, that were the talk of the garage and NASCAR in its entirety. Then when they ended, it was like a weight off the shoulders of the drivers and teams.
Meanwhile, Earnhardt Jr. had a winless streak last from 2008 until last season, a span of exactly four years to the weekend. Once that streak ended, an entire fan base seemed to be relieved that finally their leader had won.
One driver that seemed to be less talked about, but well noticed, was that of Carl Edwards, whose last win came in 2011 at Las Vegas. Since that win, he finished runner-up in the standings, but then had a very off-year by his standards. In 2012, he saw no wins, and more frustration of not having success. He saw two crew chiefs come and go that were on his pit box, and now has a veteran leading the way of the No. 99 team.
Finally on Sunday, after two years of waiting, Edwards saw the checkered flag as the winner of the Subway Fresh Fit 500, in a race that saw Subway also sponsor the car he was driving.
He pulled right up to the flag stand, took off his helmet, and stood on the window of his No. 99 Ford. With the crowd cheering his victory, he egged them on, looked behind him, and pulled off his signature move, doing the backflip onto the track, landing on his feet. He then went for the checkered flag, and scaled the wall to go through the gate, and celebrate with the fans in the lower rows before driving to victory lane.
The streak is over for Edwards, and despite only being two races into the season, he is in position to be one of the wild cards for the Chase, unless the next 24 races he makes his way into the top-10.
Edwards now can celebrate alongside other greats that ended his streak. Only difference is rather than spraying some champagne, he’s likely to hand out some Subway foot-long subs to his team, just to make sure they “Eat Fresh.”
RESULTS: 1-Edwards 2-Johnson 3-Hamlin 4-Keselowski 5-Earnhardt Jr. 6-Bowyer 7-Kenseth 8-Stewart 9-Gordon 10-Burton
NOTABLE FINISHES: 13-Harvick 19-Kahne 23-Kyle Busch 39-Patrick
CAUTIONS: 8 for 43 laps. Lap 22-27 (#44 accident-T4), 49-55 (#18 spin-T2), 66-69 (#7 accident-T1), 100-103 (#39 stalled on track), 142-146 (#39 accident-T1), 186-193 (#10, 34 accident-FS), 238-242 (#38 accident-T1), 311-314 (#32 accident-T3).
LEAD CHANGES: 12 among 9 drivers. Martin 1-49, Montoya 50-56, Biffle 57-64, Biffle 70-100, Martin 101-126, Keselowski 127-142, Ragan 143-145, Edwards 146-189, Johnson 190, Reutimann 191, Earnhardt Jr. 192-238, Edwards 239-316.
TIME OF RACE:Â 3 Hrs, 15 Secs.
AVERAGE SPEED:Â 105.187 MPH
MARGIN OF VICTORY:Â 1.024 Seconds
POINTS:Â 1. Johnson, 90 points; 2. Earnhardt Jr, -8; 3. Keselowski, -8; 4. Hamlin, -18; 5. Bowyer, -18; 6. Biffle, -24; 7. Martin, -25; 8. Gordon, -30; 9. Stenhouse, -30; 10. Almirola, -30; 11. Edwards, -31; 12. Ambrose, -38.