Carl Edwards has 16 career victories in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, 23 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and six in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Edwards has run in 22 road course races in his NASCAR career but he did not make it to Victory Lane until yesterday’s race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada.

In the Sprint Cup Series, Edwards has averaged a 12.8 finishing position at road courses. He has two top-5 finishes and six top-10 finishes out of the 10 road course races he has run in that division.

Edwards has run in 12 races on various road courses in the Nationwide Series and his previous best finish was 3rd, which he managed twice. The first time came in the first race in Mexico City back in 2005 and the second 3rd place finish was just a few weeks ago when the Nationwide Series ran at Watkins Glen.

His road course history has been just about as tumultuous as the tracks themselves.

Each year, especially in his Nationwide Series races, it looks as though Edwards simply cannot do well in all of the year’s road course events. In 2007, he finished 4th in Mexico City but then had dismal finishes of 30th and 32nd at Montreal and Watkins Glen, respectively. The following year he got top-10 finishes in Mexico and Montreal but finished 25th at the Glen.

He would get so close to a win that he could taste it, but he just could not get there.

Finally, yesterday he got the break he had been waiting for.

He ran well all day and on that final green-white-checkered dash he knew he was in a good position. He just had to wait for an opening.

The leader at that point in the race, Marcos Ambrose, is known for being flawless on a road course. But, he proved he was human when he bobbled and went airborne on the final turn of the race.

That was all Edwards needed.

Now that he has tasted road course victory, he will certainly want more.

Unfortunately, he will have to wait until next year to see if he can get another one.

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