Nice guys don't always finish last...sometimes they finish 2nd

Over the course of a season, especially this one considering it ended with a points tie, there are many moments people can point to when talking about the runner up not winning.  A series of sub-par finishes.  A bad call on the part of a crew chief maybe.  One engine failure that caused him to lose an entire race's worth of points.

Carl Edwards has many of these, just as every other 2nd place finisher.  But there are TWO wins that weren't that might haunt him, while delighting everyone else.

Trevor Bayne and Regan Smith were nothing coming into this Sprint Cup season.  Many considered the #78 and #21 teams as gloried start-and-parkers.  Entering speed weeks at Daytona, Regan and Trevor could move about a crowd of NASCAR fans at will.  Heck, I recall a trip to Michael Waltrip Racing fan day in 2009 where Michael, after introducing Ryan Truex as the reigning Camping World East Series Champion, struggled to come up with something before finally just blurting out "AND HERE'S TREVOR BAYNE!" followed by a golf clap. 

But the first two crown jewel events of the season, Daytona and Darlington, were taken by Trevor and Regan.  And suddenly everyone knew who they were.  On All-Star week, at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Regan had to hide behind a blue screen just so he wouldn't be badgered by fans (don't worry, we found him anyway).  Trevor was greeted in San Francisco by a women holding signs saying "Marry Me, Trevor" just days following his Daytona 500 victory.

These were probably the two most encouraging, and celebrated wins of the season.  Other first time winners, like Paul Menard, and David Ragan were nice.  But they were driving for power house teams.  Teams that SHOULD be winning.  Only Marcos Ambrose at Watkins Glen can even come close.  But lost in all the jubilation over the little guys that could, was who played the Goliath in both situations.

Goliath was played by Carl Edwards.

Carl is a great guy.  One night before Roush-Fenway fan appreciation day in 2009, while many of us were sitting outside cold and bored, Carl arrived at the shop to pick up his car.  Upon seeing the couple dozen of us who were sitting there, Carl walked over and signed, took pictures, and actually just hung out with us.  There were no cameras around.  No sponsor reps.  He was by himself.  If he had wanted to, he could've just left and dealt with us in the morning at the autograph table.  But Carl is a genuinely nice guy.  And when two guys who needed a break were in front of him, and he could've dumped them, he didn't.

And it might have cost him a championship.

3 points for every win.  Tony Stewart had 0, and Carl had 3 going into the chase.  And they ended up tied.  If at Daytona, or Darlington, had Carl not decided to be so nice, he would've taken another 3 or 6 points into the Chase.  And we'd be crowning him champion.  We'd be celebrating the fact that maybe the regular season did matter, because one could point out that despite Tony's thunderous charge following the start of the Chase, it wasn't enough because he didn't do enough in the regular season.  NASCAR would probably still be happy with the results.  Going into Homestead would've still been one of the tightest points battles in the history of the sport.  I'm not saying this is a bad thing mind you.  The Chase was awesome, the drama was intense, and everyone is still talking about this season, even a week after it's over.  But it's just a little different to think about what might've been, had Carl just decided to use his bumper a little.  He had every chance too, especially at Darlington.  But he didn't.

If he had known what the end of the season would look like, would he have?

We'll never know.  But I'm glad he didn't.