Carl Edwards looking for big win in Vegas

Reporting from Las Vegas -- The broad grin is still intact along with the upbeat outlook. One might think Carl Edwards just came off a win.

But Edwards, who missed capturing his first NASCAR Sprint Cup title by a whisker to Tony Stewart last year, now has gone one year without winning a Cup points race. (He did win NASCAR’s All-Star race last year).

The last time Edwards launched his trademark back flip from his No. 99 Ford after winning a points race came at Las Vegas Motor Speedway a year ago, and the series returns to the 1.5-mile oval Sunday for the Kobalt Tools 400.

Publicly, at least, Edwards said the winless streak doesn’t bother him.

“There were many races last year that we very well could have won if things would have gone slightly different,” Edwards said before qualifying 21st in Sunday’s 43-car field.

“The way this sport works is, if you run that well you’ll win your fair share of races,” he said. “Any week would be a good week to go ahead and win another one, so this [weekend] would be just fine.”

Edwards typically runs well at Las Vegas, where the Roush Fenway Racing driver has two Cup wins (last year and in 2008) in seven starts. If he doesn’t win here, the Missourian sees another opportunity in two weeks at the two-mile Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.

“I really love racing at California,” he said. “It’s really fun because it’s so big and fast and you really get to work the car over pretty well. It’s a great racetrack.”

Edwards, 32, collected a whopping nine of his 19 career victories in 2008, but that season has proved an aberration. He went winless the next year, won twice in 2010 and the one time last year.

“It is difficult for anybody out there, no matter how good you are, to be able to put everything together just right on Sundays to be able to win those races,” said Edwards’ teammate Matt Kenseth, winner of this year’s Daytona 500.

Edwards finished eighth at Daytona and 17th last weekend in Phoenix.

“Carl was extremely consistent last year,” Kenseth said. “He was only able to win that one race, but he was in contention to certainly win a few more races and came up short for whatever reason.”

Edwards said his cars remain competitive. “We’re as good as we were last year at this time, which is huge,” he said.

Edwards also is a relatively new father of a 2-year-old daughter. So away from the track, the driver known for flying airplanes and undertaking adventurous stunts has throttled back.

He’ll gladly do another back flip in Victory Lane, but “Just trying to raise kids is an adventure for me right now,” he said.

james.peltz@latimes.com