Edwards' team may make more changes in bid to reach Chase

~ The Missourian is 14th in the Nextel Cup standings heading into today's race.

JOLIET, Ill. -- Despite an early season shakeup that saw him lose his crew chief to teammate Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards heads into today's race at Chicagoland Speedway just outside the top 10 in the Nextel Cup standings.

And now, team owner Jack Roush might reunite Edwards with crew chief Bob Osborne for the stretch run to NASCAR's playoffs.

In an attempt to spark his team's performance, Roush made another of his trademark crew chief swaps in April, moving Osborne from Edwards' No. 99 team to McMurray's No. 26.

Wally Brown, the lead engineer on Edwards' team, was promoted to become Edwards' new crew chief.

But those moves might turn out to be temporary. Edwards said Saturday that Roush made the moves on a 90-day provisional basis, and expects to meet with Roush soon to re-evaluate the changes.

"The 90 days is up this week, so I don't know exactly what we're going to do," Edwards said. "I'm sure we'll have a meeting about it. Hopefully I get a say in this one."

And if Edwards does have his say, will he ask to have Osborne back or stick with Brown?

"I don't know yet," Edwards said. "I just have to sit down and think about it. I've been trying to just go along and work and not worry about it too much. I guess we'll just all sit down and talk as a group -- we all know each other really well -- and decide what's best for everybody and go on."

Edwards said Brown has proven himself to be a top-level crew chief in the past three months.

Although Edwards was initially resistant to the change -- which he called a "big time" shock -- he says the team is performing well.

"Everything's going great," Edwards said. "It was a surprise to me to begin with, but it's been going pretty smoothly and everybody seems to be doing their job. We just need to sit down and look at everything and decide. But ultimately, it's Jack's decision."

Roush said reuniting Edwards with Osborne is a possibility.

"There is a chance," Roush said. "It's not been on my mind, but there is a chance."

Roush said he has been pleased with the results of his changes so far.