Carl Edwards never finds speed he needs for title run

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Carl Edwards, rolling toward the end of his tenure with Roush Fenway Racing, won't get another shot at winning a Sprint Cup championship with the team that put him at the top level of NASCAR.

On a Sunday in which he needed a strong run to contend for a spot in next week's championship final four at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Edwards was a virtual no-show. He never ran higher than ninth, finished 15th and ended the third round of the playoffs as the eighth of the eight Chase contenders, 24 points behind leader Denny Hamlin.

Edwards joined Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski and Matt Kenseth as drivers failing to advance.

Edwards has had a tough Chase overall, scoring a best finish of fifth at Kansas Speedway in the first nine races of the playoffs.

"We had some runs that we shouldn't have had," Edwards said after Sunday's race. "We made it awfully far, so I'm very proud of everybody. We'll just go to Homestead and try to get another win. Hopefully, Joey (Logano, the only Ford Racing representative in the final four) can get the win and bring Ford a championship."

Edwards, who will move to Joe Gibbs Racing next season, said the No. 99 team, racing in the final weeks of crew chief Jimmy Fennig's pit-road career, made repeated attempts to gain speed this weekend – a search that has been difficult for RFR all year.

"Yeah, we tried every trick that we could," Edwards said. "We just didn't have a lot of speed all weekend. The car actually drove pretty decently at the end, so I thought Jimmy did a great job with it.

"We just didn't have enough speed, so that's how it goes."

Edwards said his team battled despite facing an uphill climb.

"These guys dug deep and worked hard," he said. "I've never been a part of something like this where everybody just doesn't give up. This means the world."

With Edwards' failure to reach the Chase final four, neither Roush Fenway nor Hendrick Motorsports, two of NASCAR's top teams for many years, will have a car in the race for the championship.

Follow Hembree on Twitter @mikehembree