What's up, guys? Leslie Robbins here for Young Hollywood. I am spending the day with NASCAR champ Carl Edwards at K1 Speed. And we're not just talking cars, we are driving cars. Welcome back to LA. Nice to see you again.

Well, thank you. Thanks. It's good to see you. And thanks for having me here. And thanks for doing this here. We're going to have some fun. This is a lot better than me in the studio.

First, let's talk about the chase, which for those that don't know out there, it's kind of like the NASCAR playoffs. So take me what take me through what the chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is.

So, the way it works, we have 36 races that make the NASCAR season. At the at 26 races, they say, "Hey, there's 16 guys qualify for the chase if you have a win or if you're in the top 16 in points. So right now, there are 16 guys have a chance to win a championship. Well, in those final 10 races, they go the first three races and the bottom four of the 16 are gone. The next three races, the bottom four. The next three races the bottom four, until we're left with four guys that get to compete at Homestead Miami Speedway. And whoever finishes first wins the championship. So it's it's kind of a crazy time right now. We're two races in. We've got Dover coming up and it's like all the pressure of the season is it's all focused right now. In years past, you know, you come down to a final race or something, or final two or three races of the season. There might be two guys, maybe three guys competing. Right now, it is, I mean, it literally 16 guys fighting for a win each week. And after this, it even gets tougher, and it just keeps moving that way.

So you've taken that last race feel and you've you've made that happen a few times at these cut off races. So, basically, in the regular season as you guys call it, you need one win to make it.

Yep, and you're good. You did two.

Yeah, that's well, we had it one was a fuel mileage race and my crew chief won that race for us. That was the Coke 600. It was a huge win. And um, we've been close there before. But the second one, the Southern 500 was just awesome. It's one of the coolest really, probably the biggest race in my career. And we had a lot of fun. We won for Arris. They came on board this this year in a huge way. And so, that was a a big night for us.

Carl Edwards, as he comes through three and four, he'll see the checkered flag. He'll add his name to the legends that have won at Darlington. Carl Edwards wins the Southern 500.

To me Darlington is really special, just because it's such a difficult track. And in that night we we overcame uh some adversity with a a flat tire, being two laps down. We we stayed in the in the game, and stayed in the fight, and we and we made it to the end. And I felt like at the end of that race, I felt like we really did something. And that's that's a cool feeling.

The history of this place, thick. His crew knows, they'll give him room.

You are the backflip guru, backflip king.

Well, compared to other racecar drivers, I'm okay at backflips. But like, I've had people that are really good at backflips say, "Man, that is an ugly backflip." So, so anyway, I appreciate you giving me a little credit.

Well, it's just you and I here, and no one's watching. So I'm going to give you props for being the backflip king in the NASCAR world. How about that?

Perfect. That's good.

So when you win a race, you do backflips. Yes. How did that come about? It's amazing.

So, well, it so my local dirt track, um, I started doing it back when I raced in uh, Holt Summit, Missouri. And I saw Tyler Walker win a World Outlaws race and he did the backflip. And so I thought, hey, that's pretty cool. And Aussie Smith, you know, at St. Louis Cardinals, he did the backflips. And so I started doing them. And then um, Jack Roush hired me. And and I won my first race in the truck series at Kentucky. And I thought, well, I'll do a backflip. And so now the fans, I mean, you kind of have to do them, which is a little bit stressful in a way, but there's something so cool about standing there after the race. You've won the race. The crowd is cheering and it's fun to to do it.

How do you get that tunnel vision, put the blinders on and cut out the distractions?

So the hardest thing in the world is to maintain your focus, right? I mean, to focus on something. That racing to me has always captivated me and it's always been something that it's really easy to focus on. I don't have to put any effort. Once I start racing, I can forget about everything else, and it's it's really fun. It's one of the neatest things in the world. That's what drew me to racing is you get in that car all by yourself. You put on a helmet and you get to go out there and you're you're basically in control of this whole little thing. And it's scary. And there's all this stress and it's just a it's it's really fun to do.

You are probably the fittest guy on the NASCAR circuit. I mean, I won't make him take his shirt off now unless he really wants to.

I'm fine. Thank you.

We have lots of pictures of you shirtless. You've been on

That's great. This does make me a little uncomfortable. I I went through this phase where it was really difficult to keep my shirt on. I don't know what I was doing. But um, I So I didn't think I thought fitness was silly. I didn't understand people that worked out. But it really has become a huge part of my life. By far the easiest thing was just making sure I eat properly. And that's that's something that's been really cool. My partnership with Subway. I mean, I just had Subway for lunch. That's not a not marketing, I just had some Subway, but um, you know, eating right, making sure you take care of what you put in your body is the key. I mean, you obviously take care of yourself very well. And I think if you do that, and just get a little bit outside time, do something active, it's good.

You mentioned you're in LA to film some TV. Not your first rodeo. You've been on 24, done a slew of commercials. Yeah. So. Acting in your future?

No, no. So they give me just enough, like a couple lines and it's just fun. And just kind of come in and say your lines and everybody claps and you leave. So it's fun. Um, but they're letting me be uh, play a police officer on the show The Grinder with Fred Savage and Rob Lowe, and it should be really fun.

Give me tips, because you have some of the best tips around for being behind the wheel.

All right, so just the number one thing is just be safe. Okay? You have nothing to gain here. We're just going to have fun.

Well, I have a win over you to gain.

All right. All right. The biggest thing is don't don't hit anything. For especially me. And um, okay. Just go into the corners kind of easy and then on the gas off the corner, it'll be perfect.

Leslie did very well, actually. That was pretty awesome. These things are really cool. I thought you might have a little love tap. Good job.

Thanks. What'd you think? I loved it. I loved like going really slow in the curve like you said, and then, like you get that rhythm.

You did really good job. You you kind of knew um, the line and everything. That was really neat. That was good.

I was just kind of following your lead. Really? That's good. And then you beat me.

I think the actual finish line we're pretty close to tied, so.

I don't think so. That was the checkered flag that he was waving. But you still won. After the checkered flag, I went ahead and ran around a little bit.

Let's do a slow-mo uh, replay, instant replay of the finish line. I'm pretty sure you beat me by a couple inches actually.

You think so? I think so. I don't know if it was right at the finish line. So you're being nice to me.

Well, I mean, yeah, yeah. Yeah.