Dominoes waiting to fall

Carl Edwards is the key to where many drivers will end up for the 2012 season.

Associated Press

SONOMA, Calif.

NASCAR’s top series shifted to the road course at Infineon Raceway this weekend, where the focus should have been on the winding track and the ringers who arrived looking for a rare victory.

Instead, side stories again dominated discussions.

Carl Edwards remained silent Friday on his free agency status, dodging and weaving every question about his contract talks. The industry is waiting to see how things shake out for the Sprint Cup Series points leader because he’s considered the first domino in what could become a frenzied signing period.

There also could be two fewer seats to fill after the announcement this week that Red Bull will leave NASCAR at the end of the season, news that weighed heavily throughout the garage.

Edwards found himself in the center of the spotlight on one of his biggest weekends of the year. He was scheduled to travel back and forth from California to Wisconsin to race in Sunday’s main event at Sonoma and the Nationwide Series race at Road America on Saturday. But after struggling Friday in his Cup car, the team decided he’d skip the Nationwide race and let Billy Johnson drive for him at Road America.

But Edwards was still dogged by rumors of meetings with Joe Gibbs Racing, which could be the only team shy of Red Bull with enough financing to lure Edwards from Roush Fenway Racing.

“We are working hard on it and we do all that stuff behind closed doors,” Edwards said. “I have heard rumors about all different teams for the last two years. The thing I am going to do is keep working on it privately. I think that is the best way for me.”

But he’s the points leader and a legitimate threat to win his first Cup title this year. Although he said he’d be content to wait until the season is over to sign a contract, that’s not realistic. The constant speculation could wear on his No. 99 team, regardless of how hard crew chief Bob Osborne tries to keep the focus on the big prize.

“We have to get it done. There is that feeling of ‘Hey, we would like to get this done before we get into the Chase,”’ Edwards said. “I am not going to force anything or rush anything. I am going to go about it in a methodical way.”

Although Red Bull’s Kasey Kahne already was scheduled to move to Hendrick Motorsports next season, he’s been put in yet another difficult situation. This time last year, he knew he wouldn’t be returning to Richard Petty Motorsports, and had to hope his team wouldn’t quit on him late in the year.

Now, he and Kenny Francis are trying to hold things together this season.

“I think what happens is, even [when] there were rumblings of what ended up happening, a lot of the pit crew and guys working on the cars were like, ‘Man, what am I going to do? I have family,”’ Kahne said. “As soon as that gets started, it doesn’t make the team any better. That’s just the way it is. There’s no way it can be good.”