Edwards may get ex-crew chief

Team owner Jack Roush is considering moves as a follow-up to changes he made in April.
JOLIET, Ill. (AP) -- Despite an early season shakeup that saw him lose his crew chief to teammate Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards heads into today's race at Chicagoland Speedway just outside the top 10 in the Nextel Cup standings.
And now, team owner Jack Roush might reunite Edwards with crew chief Bob Osborne for the stretch run to NASCAR's version of the playoffs.
In an attempt to spark his team's performance, Roush made another of his trademark crew chief swaps in April, moving Osborne from Edwards' No. 99 team to McMurray's No. 26.
Wally Brown, the lead engineer on Edwards' team, was promoted to become Edwards' new crew chief.
Discussion due
But those moves might turn out to be temporary. Edwards said Saturday that Roush made the moves on a 90-day provisional basis, and expects to meet with Roush soon to re-evaluate the changes.
"The 90 days is up this week, so I don't know exactly what we're going to do," Edwards said. "I'm sure we'll have a meeting about it. Hopefully I get a say in this one."
And if Edwards does have his say, will he ask to have Osborne back or stick with Brown?
"I don't know yet," Edwards said. "I just have to sit down and think about it. I've been trying to just go along and work and not worry about it too much. I guess we'll just all sit down and talk as a group -- we all know each other really well -- and decide what's best for everybody and go on."
Edwards said Brown has proven himself to be a top-level crew chief in the past three months.
"To me, Bob and Wally are both just as great as one another," Edwards said. "And I think that either one of them would be awesome."
Initial reaction
Although Edwards was initially resistant to the change -- which he called a "big time" shock -- he says the team is performing well under Brown's direction.
"Everything's going great," Edwards said. "It was a surprise to me to begin with, but it's been going pretty smoothly and everybody seems to be doing their job. We just need to sit down and look at everything and decide. But ultimately, it's Jack's decision."
With test sessions planned for this week, Roush said the team will likely meet next week to determine whether to make another round of changes.
Roush said reuniting Edwards with Osborne is a possibility. "There is a chance," Roush said. "It's not been on my mind, but there is a chance."
Roush has been pleased with the results of his changes so far. His main goals were to have Osborne work with McMurray, who joined the team in the off-season, to get him used to driving cars that are built and set up more closely to those of his teammates.
Roush also wanted McMurray's former crew chief, respected veteran Jimmy Fennig, to help straighten out the No. 17 Busch Series team that fields cars for Matt Kenseth.
Although he decided to make the initial switch on his own, Roush said he'll take input from drivers and team members this time around -- a process he calls more "democratic" than it was the first time around.
"We had seven changes we made, and it wasn't practical to tell everyone [beforehand]," Roush said, smiling. "That was a time for leadership."
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