LONG POND, Pa. — Carl Edwards heard the chants for the backflip, so he had to line up the right spot.

On cue, Edwards hopped on the center spot of the billiards table, took his position and celebrated his latest victory with his trademark ritual to the delight of the Dover crowd.

Edwards might have found the winning shots at a celebrity pool tournament, but he's still looking for the right combinations to reach Victory Lane for the first time this season.

Considered a preseason threat to topple Jimmie Johnson's three-year reign as Sprint Cup champion, Edwards has positioned himself as a Chase contender without the first-place finishes that dotted his record last season.

Edwards can race all season without a spin in Victory Lane if it means he's celebrating with a title at the end.

"I'm definitely more concerned about the Chase," Edwards said Friday. "I know it sounds silly, but we won plenty of races last year and we didn't win the championship. I know what it feels like to win races. I'm worried about winning the championship."

He nearly won the Cup championship last year with a series-high nine victories, including three of the final four in the Chase for the championship. All his dominant season got him was a runner-up finish, 69 points behind Johnson in the final standings. The lesson was clear: All those wins are nice, but they seem empty at the end without a Cup title.

Edwards also won three of the final four races and seven overall in the Nationwide Series and finished second in the second-tier series.

"I felt like at the end of last season, every other week we were winning races," he said. "This is a long season. We've performed pretty well, we've had a little bit of bad luck. There are about three or four races we could have won."

He was poised to make the leap from contender to champion — and still can if he qualifies for the Chase — but Edwards hasn't put together the string of dominating races like he did last season. He's 11th in the points standings, with only two top fives and no finish higher than third.

Edwards had a crew shakeup in April, removing a tire changer that messed up a pit stop that cost him a win at Texas Motor Speedway.

Edwards, who left rain-soaked Pocono Raceway early to practice for the Nationwide race in Nashville, Tenn., knows only a bunch of runs near the front can turn the season around.

"Things change quickly," he said. "I'm praying that Jimmie won't have to worry about that for long. He'll be chasing us, hopefully, at the end."