CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES Racing fans flip over Carl Edwards' signature move

The young driver does a backflip after every victory.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Some drivers celebrate victories with rubber-burning doughnuts, spraying champagne or fence climbing. Carl Edwards, the latest NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series sensation, scrambles out of his truck after taking the checkered flag and does a backflip.
The crowd-pleasing move by the Roush Racing driver was inspired by Sprint car driver Tyler Walker.
"I saw him do it on TV and it just looked awesome, so I started doing that, probably in 1999," Edwards said.
It took some time -- and some pain -- to perfect it. After workouts at the University of Missouri gym, Edwards and a friend would go upstairs to a padded room and work on the move.
"I usually did it three times a week before the [school] year started," he said.
Once he got the hang of doing the backflip, all Edwards had to do was start winning.
Good background
It wasn't a foreign concept to the driver from Columbia, Mo., who followed in the footsteps of his father, Mike Edwards, a local short-track standout for four decades.
Carl started out driving 4-cylinder mini-sprints when he was 13. Over the next 10 years, he ran hundreds of races all over the country, accumulating two track championships and 56 feature wins while racing on both pavement and dirt.
Finally, he knew it was time to take a big -- and frightening -- step.
"We sold the dirt modified car I had been driving for three years. We sold everything we had and my parents took money out of the bank they had saved up and we bought a used USAC Silver Crown car," Edwards said. "I raced that three times and we ran out of money and I couldn't afford it any more."
He began scrambling for rides while working construction and going to school part-time.
That's when Edwards heard that current Winston Cup rookie Jamie McMurray had left his ride with Mittler Brothers Racing in St. Louis. He quickly drove the 80 miles to the race shop and told Mittler he wanted to drive his truck.
"I expected him to laugh at me, but it turned out he became a really good friend," Edwards said.
Edwards worked in the team shop and went to races as a crew member, helping field trucks for Tony Roper and Larry Gunselman until Gunselman left at the end of the 2001 season.
"After that, I think Mike just decided, 'Well, let's see what the kid can do,' " Edwards said.
Edwards drove seven races last season for Mittler, coming up with his first top-10 finish and attracting the interest of Roush Racing team manager Max Jones.
The first part of the season wasn't much fun, though. He crashed hard in the opening race in Daytona and blew a motor in Darlington.
"Then, we just had a series of bad events culminating in Dover. I destroyed two trucks there -- one in practice and one in the race. That was really the low point in my career so far."
That's when things turned around. In the 10 races since Dover, Edwards has eight top-five finishes, including three wins. He moved up to ninth in the season points heading into Thursday night's race at Richmond.