NASCAR Cup Series

Edwards' Sonoma win not a fix-all for Roush Fenway Racing

Published Jun. 23, 2014 1:15 p.m. ET

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Larry McReynolds

As hard as it is in today's competition to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup series race, it doesn't matter where or when it is for a racing organization. It's a big deal to win.

Does that mean with Carl Edwards winning a road course race at Sonoma and teammate Greg Biffle finishing a strong ninth that all the ills of Roush Fenway Racing are behind them? The answer is absolutely not.

Let's face it, outside of Watkins Glen in two months, our only other road course event of the season, Sunday's race at Sonoma has no relevance to any of the races in the Chase.

Don't get me wrong a win is a win. With all that said, Carl now has two wins. He's put up four top-five finishes and eight top-10 finishes on the board in 16 events. He's also solidly in sixth spot in the regular-season point standings.

The organization as a whole gets a much-needed shot in the arm of confidence and momentum. Carl Edwards and his No. 99 team, by getting their second win of the year, now know they will definitely be in the 2014 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship. All of those are big deals.

How they perform at Kentucky is an unknown. Yes, the won Sunday but just two weeks ago they came off a very, very rough Michigan race weekend. It probably was one of the worst Michigan race weekends in the history of Roush Fenway Racing. That has to be weighing on them as they head to a somewhat similar track at Kentucky Speedway.

To truly know they have one team officially in the Chase is huge for that whole organization. It's also very big for their existing sponsors and the sponsors they are courting for the future. See, that's another wild card in itself. The future of Carl Edwards in the No. 99 and remaining at Roush Fenway Racing is probably one of the biggest unknown's in our sport right now.

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