Hot/Not: How will Carl Edwards’ negotiation tactics affect Roush?

It rained in Pocono? You don't say. We cover the track's response, Carl Edwards' big, new term-less contract and fail to make any Rex Ryan jokes about Brad Keselowski's win in this week's Hot/Not. Strap in, folks.

Friday, before all of the rain at Pocono Raceway, it was officially confirmed that Carl Edwards will remain a Roush Fenway driver for at least the next couple of seasons. Keeping Edwards is of course a coup for Roush, seeing how ridicuously good the Missouri driver is at pushing any sponsor's brand.

Oh, and it turns out Edwards is a pretty decent driver, too.

Owner Jack Roush even admitted that he went to absurd lengths to show Edwards each and every detail about Roush Fenway Racing that would help his No. 99 toward finally winning a championship in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. In fact, Roush said he would have felt "really stupid" and "horribly exposed" had Edwards decided to jump ship.

With the signing of Edwards, life, it seemed, returned to being hunky-dory at RFR — at least until Saturday night at Iowa Speedway.

The finish at Iowa was an epic one (that you can see here) with Edwards slamming eventual winner and teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. across the finish line after Stenhouse blew an engine exiting the final corner on the final lap. But an interesting thing happened after the face, as neither driver really was too candid about the incredible finish.

The focus instead was on how they raced one another — and how each driver was a bit ticked off about it.

"We probably raced a little too hard," Stenhouse said. "But I felt like he ran us up the racetrack there in Turn 4 and got into us. And then after that, I was just going to drive as hard as I could and make sure I got back by him."

Such incidents are nothing new for Edwards, not even with teammates. Over the past few years, Edwards' style has irked his Sprint Cup teammates Greg Biffle (after an incident at Darlington in 2009) and Matt Kenseth (when Edwards jokingly — or not — took a half swing at Kenseth after Martinsville in 2007) in ways you don't typically expect teammates to act. {ysp:more}

One could blame thesed incidents on Edwards being an aggressive driver looking out for his own best interests. Still, there does seem to be a pattern here which, in the wake of Edwards having labored through the contract process — and caused his own team to sell to him at lengths they'd never reached before — you've got to wonder where he stands within the entirety of the Roush organization.

Yes, Edwards is immensely talented and, sure, he's bound to bring in a hefty amount of sponsorship dollars to keep RFR on a championship track. But at some point, the Big Man on Campus role causes those working below to grow weary. Going forward, it'll be awfully interesting to see how the rest of RFR handles Carl Edwards, BMOC.

Now, the quick hits from a rain-delayed weekend:

HOT: I can't simply bury this in the above story because the finish was so incredible. Do yourself a favor, watch the Nationwide Series finish from Iowa. Again. It was that good...

NOT: As we continue the now-regular "Jeff Burton Top-10 Watch", we have no good news to report. Burton is still top-10-less in 2011 after he finished 17th, but not for a lack of effort after the No. 31 took two tires late for a track-position gamble. You could say it didn't work...

HOT: Boy, is it nice to have Allen Bestwick in the ESPN play-by-play booth again. The guy is a natural to NASCAR and his wealth of NASCAR history and knowledge makes his presentation flawless and easy to listen to...

NEUTRAL: Paul Menard (Paul freakin Menard!) finished 10th Sunday, following up his mammoth Brickyard 400 win. Brad Keselowski's win may have sealed him making the Chase, however...

NOT: Lugnuts falling off a wheel because of the glue failing to set before a pit stop is a tough break for Denny Hamlin. But don't those things always seem to happen to him?

HOT: Give NASCAR some good graces this week for its insistence to restart the Cup race at Pocono after a torrential rain shower came past halfway. Lots of fans left, but those who stayed got a nice payoff for hanging around...

NOT: On the flip side, give NASCAR some scorn for throwing the caution when Kyle Busch spun exiting Turn 3 on Lap 14. Greg Biffle spun in exactly the same spot in June and came to rest exactly where Busch did — well out of the groove and without a caution to boot. The caution Sunday wasn't necessary and continued to show a lack of consistency in that department...

HOT: More TV love here for ESPN's Countdown host Nicole Briscoe. The technical difficulties caused by master control in Bristol, Conn., in the Pocono pre-race left the entire ESPN team scrambling to fill time. Briscoe directed traffic quite well and kept things moving in an obviously high-stress situation...

NOT: It's a bit sad that former Formula 1 driver Scott Speed has now been relegated to start-and-park duty in the Sprint Cup Series. I'd love to see him in a full-time Nationwide gig...

HOT: Also, give the staff of Pocono Raceway credit for getting the finish of the Camping World Truck Series race and the ARCA race completed Sunday morning. It's hard enough to prepare for a Sprint Cup race — and adding two early-morning races to the schedule the day before takes some heavy and quick lifting...

That's it for this week. See you at 'the Glen.