“Played a Lot of Video Games” – When Carl Edwards Made a Sensational Pass on Jimmie Johnson at Kansas Speedway

Back in 2008, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson were battling for the lead at the Kansas Speedway. Johnson was leading the race, but Edwards was closing in and looking threatening. Heading into the corner, the #99 driver attempted an audacious dive-bomb on the #48 Hendrick Motorsports driver.

He completed the move, but started to drift wide towards the outside wall. Edwards clattered the wall and tried to ride through it all the way to the line. However, the loss of momentum meant that Jimmie Johnson retook the lead and kept it until the finish line.

Carl Edwards did not regret anything at all

Speaking after the race, he said, “I planned on hitting the wall, but I didn’t plan on the wall slowing me down that much. Played a lot of video games where you can run it into the wall and hold it wide open. That’s what I did, but it didn’t quite work out the same as a video game.

“Jimmie is a smart racer, I don’t have to a nice slide job, you just lift and go right back behind and watch him. I just didn’t know what would happen and figured that I had to try.”

Unfortunately, he didn’t quite win the Cup Series that year and ended up losing out to Johnson. That and the 2011 season were the closest he ever got to winning a Cup Series championship. However, he does boast on 28 Cup Series wins in his career, including an All-Star win in 2011.

The 42-year-old, most famous for his back flips after winning a race, retired at the end of the 2016 season. Speaking of the 2011 season, he lost that title in a tiebreaker with Tony Stewart. On the bright side, he does have an Xfinity Series title to his name. That Xfinity triumph came in the 2007 season, where he won ahead of David Reutimann.

READ MORE: WATCH: When Former NASCAR Star Carl Edwards Defeated F1 Legend Michael Schumacher