Carl Edwards, who is sponsored by Subway, won the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway yesterday which is wraps up his 70-race losing streak nicely. I tweeted that this made him relevant now, which might have sounded mean but it’s true. Nobody talked about him last year because he didn’t do anything, which is weird because Carl is one the most likable & talented dudes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series so you’d think they would have shoehorned him into any conversation, like they do with Danica Patrick. Anyway, now that’s not necessary because he has proven his worth again, so we can go back to acknowledging his existence.

When Carl was doing his “Carl Edwards winning” stuff yesterday, ya know, the back-flip and the running into the stands (which isn’t nearly as cool anymore now that the track anticipates it and stops people from flinging themselves onto him), I was thinking about how genuinely charismatic he is, like, he has more personality in his pinky than some drivers do in their entire bodies. Even if I think that Carl can be very Eddie Haskell some of the time he’s still something. Some guys come on the screen and I fall asleep when they haven’t even said anything. Carl, on the other hand, I always want to hear what he’s got to say.

I think there are some drivers who make an effort to be a certain way in front of the cameras, with varying degrees of success and believableness, and then there are drivers who could give a rats ass and leave you with absolutely no sense about who they are at all and they’re totally cool with that.

In other news…

— Scott Speed and his wife, Amanda are expecting their second child together. The couple posted a photo of their sonogram to Twitter last week.

— Travis Pastrana and his wife, Lyn-Z, are expecting their first child in September. Travis talked about it during his media session on Friday:

“It’s just really exciting. I got married about a year-and-a-half ago and having a kid is gonna be awesome, but, for now, I’m just focusing on the job at hand and going out and trying to drive some race cars.”

“I definitely feel for my parents now with everything I’ve put them through, but we’ll encourage whatever we have – a boy or girl – to follow their passion. I’m hoping their passion is golf, maybe (laughter). But with what we have around us in the action sports community, the action sports family and even now getting into the racing family, it’s a tighter-knit community with more role models and more people that I would like my kid to look up to and to be a part of and to be influenced by, so I really do hope that they’re in this industry. Being in there is one thing because I know that it’s worth it. Every second is worth it, and I’m passionate about what I do and I love that passion, but I hope they’re passionate about whatever they do.”

— Chad Knaus, crew chief for the #48 Lowes Chevrolet team, is engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Lisa Rockelmann.