During the first 11 trips to Englishtown and Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, Mike Edwards did not have any good fortunes on his side, scoring only three round wins, and those all coming in 1998 when he was runner-up.
 
But those misfortunes have swung the opposite direction the last three trips to New Jersey as the Penhall/K&N/Interstate Batteries-backed squad has compiled nine round wins. In 2008, Edwards reached the semifinals, to do it one better in 2009, and then topped that in 2010 with his first victory at the fabled facility.
 
“When you lay it out like that, this place did not like me for a long time, and then all of sudden it changed and I have been on its good side,” Edwards said. “That the track has been around for nearly as long as drag racing, maybe it forces all of us to pay our dues before it begins rewarding us with trophies. I just hope that since we opened that portion last year, the hardware keeps flowing our direction.”
 
Edwards and his Pontiac have started to build the momentum they have been hoping for heading into the summer months of the NHRA Full Throttle season. In the recent events, he has qualified No. 1 at a couple stops and reached the semifinals at a couple others. He knows now is the time to turn that consistency into something more – victories.
 
“It is all well and good to be fast in qualifying and then come Sunday be consistent, but not strong enough to get over the hump into the final and have a shot at the Wally,” Edwards said. “Since Topeka, that is what we have focused on, being faster when it comes to eliminations. We think we have fixed a few things and straightened out a couple other things that will allow us to reach that goal. Now we just need it to translate into a summer run.”
 
Edwards comes into the event in fourth place in the Pro Stock standing, trailing leader Jason Line by 105 points with nine races remaining in the regular season points battle.