There are 13 days until the 2016 Daytona 500 and so I continue my annual countdown of the drivers I think will make the 2016 Chase for the Championship.
Checking in at number is Carl Edwards. Edwards Sprint Cup series has been on of good and at times great, but he was sometimes given a pass for being in less than great equipment at Roush Fenway. Those days are over.
Edwards is entering his second season at Joe Gibbs Racing, home of the defending Sprint Cup Series Champion. JGR has had a team competing for a championship seemingly every year of the Chase and Edwards may be that guy.
But there is something missing from the Edwards equation right now, that's at crew chief. For whatever reason things didn't work out between Edwards and Darian Grubb. Edwards will pair this season with Dave Rogers who crew chiefed Denny Hamlin last season and Kyle Busch before that. This could potentially be a strong pairing for JGR.
I don't think there is any question that Edwards will be in the Chase this season. He is a top tier driver in the sport. And honestly I wouldn't be surprised if he was in the final four in Homestead. But after a lack luster debut at JGR, I'm just not ready to put him in my top 10, yet.
