On Monday, he changed his tune.
He started 33rd and was in third place by the end — behind only Tony Stewart and Marcos Ambrose, and beating out Kyle Busch — because the rest of the competition couldn't handle the slick track. He could.
"Yesterday, I wanted to race real bad in the wet, but it turned out great for us," he told NASCAR.com.
"Great" was an understatement for Edwards, who ended the afternoon with his fourth consecutive top-10 finish and his best-ever finish at Watkins Glen.
"For me, the slicker it is on the race track and the hotter it is outside, the better off we are," he told the Web site. "So I really liked that a lot. … I know that I really enjoy it. When it's like that, it's a lot of fun. So it's good for me."
The road to the finish line wasn't completely smooth for Edwards — he ran out of fuel on the last lap — but his pit crew took care of business without missing a beat.
"I'm really proud of my guys for the strategy," he said. "It was great. I ran out of fuel on the last lap, the light was on and [the engine] was missing. A perfect day for points for us."
Edwards, who had nine wins in 2008, has yet to finish first this year. It didn't happen on Monday, but he's not disappointed with the way the race ended for him.
"One of my goals this year was to win a road course race," he said. "But third place, I'll take it."
