Carl Edwards' Las Vegas Aggression Is a Positive Sign

Carl Edwards is not making too many friends early on in the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

One week after the 2011 Sprint Cup runner-up took Ryan Newman out of contention late in the race at Phoenix, Edwards did the same to his Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth.

On a late restart in Sunday's Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas, Edwards, who was fifth at the time, took teammates Kenseth and Greg Biffle three-wide going into Turn 1 while racing for third.

Edwards cleared Kenseth and got right up to Biffle's door but slipped just a little, which caused Kenseth to move up the track and into pole-sitter Kasey Kahne sending both Kenseth and Kahne into the wall and out of contention.

Kahne finish 19th while Kenseth, who had a car capable of winning Sunday's race, wound up 22nd.

Though he was calm after the race, Kenseth was visibly frustrated as he stated in his post-race interview that he "didn't know what happened" and that it seemed as though Edwards "just stopped in the corner."

Although Edwards' aggression is not something that Kenseth nor car owner Jack Roush probably appreciates very much right now, the fact that the 2011 runner-up is getting up on the wheel is a very good sign.

In a pre-race feature with NASCAR on Fox's Michael Waltrip, 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series runner-up Denny Hamlin talked about how after he came oh-so-close to winning the title, he was very complacent behind the wheel in 2011.

"I had to manage expectations last year," Hamlin said. "By doing that, I felt like I was very complacent on the race track."

Hamlin rode that complacency to a ninth-place points finish and only one victory in what many considered a disappointing year for the 2010 runner-up.

After seeing what happened to Hamlin last year, many people were afraid that's what was going to happen to Edwards in 2012.

Not so fast.

Sure, Edwards is not off to the fast start other drivers—such as Biffle—seem to be off to. But the 2011 runner-up does have two top 10s—which would have been three if he hadn't run out of gas at Phoenix—in the first three races to start the season and sits sixth in the standings.

But what's most important is that Edwards, unlike Hamlin in 2011, has shown no signs of being complacent behind the wheel to start the 2012 season.

If anything, Edwards' aggression early on in this 2012 season shows that the 2011 runner-up is every bit the same driver who came within one point of winning his first Sprint Cup title just last season.

Maybe even hungrier.

Edwards isn't exactly making any friends to start this new season, but that's not what driver No. 99 set out to do in 2012. Edwards set out to win a championship.

If that involves getting a little aggressive, even if it's against his own teammate, so be it.

Edwards does not want to finish second again. He is ready get up on the wheel and earn that first title.

The aggression he has shown so far in 2012 is a very good sign he's focused on doing just that.

All quotes were obtained from NASCAR on Fox's race coverage from Las Vegas unless otherwise stated.