EDWARDS SEEKS NEW WAY TO WIN.

Byline: TIM HADDOCK Motor Sports

The way Carl Edwards won his first NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race was a lot like the way his Roush Racing teammate Kurt Busch won his first Cup race.

Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Ford Taurus, passed Jimmie Johnson on the last lap two weeks ago at Atlanta Motor Speedway for his first career Cup Series win.

Busch made a similar move on Jimmy Spencer when he won the first Cup race of his career three years ago at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee.

In the waning laps of the race, Busch found daylight on a inside line against Spencer, took it, then prayed that his car would hold on to the track.

``He raced me through (turns) three and four,'' said Busch, whose first Cup win came in the spring race in 2002 at Bristol. ``I was up on the high side. We went down the front straightaway. I saw him push up a little bit. This is my chance, this is my move. It's probably not something I could ever pull off again, to cut underneath somebody like that. But it stuck, it worked, we went on to win the race.''

Busch returns to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend for the Food City 500 as defending champion.

He will be looking to extend his three-race winning streak in the Bristol spring race and has won four of the past six races at the tiny Tennessee track. The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series makes two annual visits to Bristol.

When asked to compare his first win to Edwards' first, Busch said his teammate may never again be able to pull off those same winning moves.

``One thing that stands out in my mind, that's very comparable to the way that Carl Edwards won, is that you have this drive within yourself to gain that first win,'' said Busch, driver of the No. 97 Roush Racing Ford Taurus.

``Something comes from within the body that you pull from within, and you pass somebody on the outside or you make a move, and you don't know how you passed them, but it stuck. The car is not supposed to stick, but it did.''

Now that Edwards has figured out one way to win a Cup race, Busch said his teammate's next task is to realize it's not the only way.

``That's one thing he did, to pass Jimmie Johnson at the end of the race. It's that drive and hunger to win your first one,'' Busch said. ``Then you realize that you try to go pull those moves off again, and you can't. It's really weird.

You have to develop a new keen sense to try to win races differently. That comes with experience. It comes with time.''

Busch has no doubt that Edwards will learn different ways to win Cup races.

``Edwards is definitely a fast race-car driver that will figure out how to win,'' Busch said. ``After you get the first one, they say they come easier. You still have to work just as hard, but in a different fashion.''

For Busch, the wins did not come easier. He remembers going through a long drought between wins Nos. 1 and 2. After winning the spring race at Bristol in 2002, he had to wait until the end of the season to win again, finishing with a flourish, three wins in the last five races.

``It took me a while to win another race,'' Busch said. ``It was probably another 15 or 20 races down the road. Once I won a second one, I noticed how I won it differently.''

Edwards is surely going to go through similar growing pains as he progresses as a Nextel Cup Series driver.

``That is one thing that will come to Edwards as he matures as a driver,'' Busch said. ``You can only drive so long at 101 percent before you slip a tire, and you end up losing a race because you were in the lead or trying to go for the lead or not being able to get back in that position.

You have to run at a pace that's comfortable for the driver and the car, and that will put you back in Victory Lane.''

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Kurt Busch returns to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend for the Food City 500 as defending champion.

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BY TIM HADDOCK