Motorsports 2006

Their next big headache

The burden of being labeled the "Next Big Thing" has tripped several drivers. Now Carl Edwards is the "it" driver with massive expectations.

By BRANT JAMES
Published February 17, 2006

DAYTONA BEACH - Kasey Kahne remembers that heady feeling. He'd just crafted one of the most promising rookie Nextel Cup seasons in recent years in 2004. He had the boyish charm sponsors coveted and the boy-band looks that made his young fans giddy.

At 24, he was on the cusp. He was to be the next big thing. Everyone said so.

Jamie McMurray knew that feeling well, too. A charismatic but obscure Missouri kid working through Chip Ganassi's Busch Series program, he set a modern-era record by winning his second-ever Cup start, replacing injured teammate Sterling Marlin at Lowe's Motor Speedway in October 2002.

It was an amazing coming out for someone who had never won in NASCAR's top three series. He won two Busch races within a month to take a wave of momentum and expectation into his rookie Cup year in Ganassi's No. 42 Dodge. After displaying such talent so quickly, McMurray, then 23, was to be the next big thing. Everyone said so.

Carl Edwards knows that same feeling now. At 26, he has seen his life accelerate into a blur, like the one at the finish at Atlanta last spring, when he beat established star Jimmie Johnson by 0.028 seconds. A kid who had begged for a ride by handing out business cards a few years earlier was becoming one of the sport's most popular and recognizable drivers. Three more wins - a signature back flip after each - a second-place finish in the driver standings, and his utter niceness pointed to Edwards as the next big thing. Everyone says so.

Therein lies the peril. It's right there in the befuddled look in Kahne's eyes when he tries to decipher how his second season went so completely awry.

"I never even thought the sophomore slump existed," said Kahne, who won his first Cup race in 2005, but fell from 13th in points in 2004 to 23rd. "You hear the saying, but you never thought it was for real or anything. But that's kind of what happened to us last year, and I don't know really why that is."

Kahne said his rookie season was easier because he drove a fleet of No. 9 Dodges Bill Elliott had "perfected" before semi-retirement. A new nose that many Dodge teams struggled to master also caused problems the second season.

Kahne clearly did not forget how to drive a year after producing 13 top-fives and finishing second five times. There simply was a lot more to deal with, more to handle than a race car. The pace for a Nextel Cup driver often seemed faster off the track. There was a certain ignorant bliss for a rookie, he said, a greater ease in building a reputation than maintaining it.

"There are things that can go wrong in a season that I did not even understand," the 2004 rookie of the year said, "whether it's testing or racing, or going to an appearance. Things went wrong last year we just never would have expected. And I've had other stuff going on before, racing other types of cars, but after having a really good type season, you don't expect it at all. It kind of sets you back."

McMurray knows, too. Entering Sunday's season-opening Daytona 500, he is winless in Cup since that 2002 win at Concord, N.C. That was 112 races ago. He has 46 top-10s and points finishes of 13th, 11th and 12th - respectable, but so much more was expected, not only of him but by him. Claiming he had grown frustrated driving equipment that could not win, this season he left Ganassi for Roush Racing - which collected 15 wins and qualified all five drivers for the Chase for the Championship last season.

"Obviously, I thought we would win more," McMurray said, whose Charlotte victory was the most recent for Ganassi.

Edwards' task is to keep things pointed forward. He seemed to thrive immediately after replacing Jeff Burton in the No. 99 Ford late in 2004 and was unflinching last year.

He seemed to transform on the track from pleasant surprise to true title contender with little hint of anxiety off it. He struggled at short tracks and road courses - otherwise his consecutive wins at Atlanta and Texas in the season's final four races might have been enough to make up his 35-point deficit at the end, behind champion Tony Stewart.

While many newcomers are expected to continue running well after a splashy first full season, his 2005 bred notions he will contend immediately for a championship. Somehow he has to do that while enjoying the benefits of his success, such as appearing on an upcoming episode of 24.

"Honestly, I don't really think about the expectations too much," he said. "Sometimes it's for better and sometimes for worse, but I have always put extremely high expectations on myself and I don't think anybody could add to that no matter what was written or said. I am extremely driven and so the expectations, I don't think about them."

Those who meet the expectations become yearly title contenders. Jimmie Johnson won three times and finished fifth in points in 2002, then three more times to finish second in 2003. Ryan Newman won once and finished sixth as a rookie of the year in 2002, then eight times to finish sixth the next year. It was the most successful follow-up at NASCAR's highest level since Dale Earnhardt won the 1980 title.

Edwards' team owner expects growth rather than a relapse from his newest star.

"Fact is, Carl is a young man of great potential and enthusiasm," Jack Roush said. "He's on a learning curve that's straight up and it'd be more likely he'd have a great result this year than it was him having a great result last year. He doesn't need to focus on not losing, he doesn't need to focus on hanging on, he just needs to go out and do what's natural, which is what got him where he is."

Kyle Busch has shown a knack for staying comfortably in the shadow during his brief Nextel Cup career as his controversial brother, Kurt, taught him lessons about being a good citizen in the garage. Kyle Busch, the 2005 Nextel Cup rookie of the year (Edwards had too many starts in 2004 to qualify), won twice last season and is bolstered by a powerful Hendrick Motorsports operation. Still, he's the other phenom in Nextel Cup's future.

"I'll tell you what, you have to say I was surprising last year, but Carl Edwards was awful surprising to me doing as well as he did," Busch said. "For us to be painted in the picture as the future of the sport, that means a lot to me to have that. You could call it respect. I would like to have that put on me, that I am the future of the sport. I'm 20 years old, so I'm probably expecting to be here another 20 years. I'll be here for a while."

Dabbing a celery stick in salad dressing in the green room as he awaits his turn on stage for a fan event at Daytona International Speedway, Kahne gropes for the positives from a frustrating 2005. He learned perspective, he said, after 365 days turned him 180 degrees.

"It feels good when people talk good about you. "You're going to win a lot of races, you can do this or that.' That feels good," he said. "But at the same time, when things aren't going as good, they say you screwed up. They think this guy isn't what he thought he was.

"You definitely like it when people talk you up, but you can't get too excited because always right around the corner, the bad days are there, too."

[Last modified February 16, 2006, 09:46:05]