Carl Edwards dominant reign in Las Vegas was mirrored by NASCAR finding his oil tank lid off of the No. 99 Ford Fusion. Many people questioned if Edwards would have won the race had his car had the lid on at the 1.5 mile tri-oval.

On Sunday, those people got a glimpse of what this team could do even no illegal advantages on the car was they dominated at Texas. Edwards led 123 laps on the track, and could probably have led more laps in the race, had he pushed the car harder. The win was Edwards’ third win of the season and clearly showed that his No. 99 Ford Fusion was going to be the one to deal with on the intermediate ovals.

What is an even bigger mark on the win was it was without his crew chief Bob Osborne who remains suspended until the race at Talladega is complete. However, car owner Jack Roush complimented his young drivers talents on the intermediate ovals and his talent to communicate with his engineering staff.

“He’s brave beyond reason at fast race tracks like this, and he communicates as well as anybody has in my time with the engineering people that we’ve got,” Roush said. “Chris Andrews, of course, is our engineering manager. Bob Osborne is a mechanical engineer as well as a crew chief. So anyway, we’ve got a lot of engineering content that’s in the cars, where we have very specific information, and Carl doesn’t stand on principle for what he might think, necessarily, and listens and interacts with the engineers to come to the best decision on many things that affect the setup.

“Carl has done just a great job, working with the tools that we’ve given him, and, of course, closing the deal today.”

Many people wonder now, what will happen when crew chief Bob Osborne returns from the 6 race suspension, how much more dominant could this team be? They won California and Las Vegas and now with the win in Texas, it appears that the leadership away from the track has helped build Edwards and his teams momentum even more.

What is even more impressive is, Edwards has an incredible record at some of the tracks coming up on the schedule. He has been running very well at Phoenix, Darlington, Charlotte, Richmond and Dover, along with his owners home track in Brooklyn, Michigan.

Only time will tell now.