Photo: Edwards (top right) celebrates with the Daytona 500 trophy and his four pit crew teammates at RCR.

HIGH POINT, N.C.--On Sunday (Feb. 18), High Point University men's basketball alum Derrell Edwards (Class of 2014) was part of the pit crew that aided Austin Dillon, another HPU alum, in winning the Daytona 500.

Edwards is the jackman and a tire carrier on Dillon's pit crew. Dillon passed Aric Almirola on the final lap to secure his first Daytona 500 and Edwards' first win as part of a team at NASCAR's top level, the Monster Cup Series.

HighPointPanthers.com caught up with Edwards as he visited the Millis Center this week to talk about how he worked his way into the world of NASCAR from the hardwood.

Question: Has winning the Daytona 500 sunk in yet?
Edwards: No it hasn't sunk in, I'm still in awe. I've had everybody tell me just how big winning the Daytona 500 is and I'm just starting to realize just how big it is and it's starting to sink in a little bit for me. The more and more people have been congratulating me and want to talk to me about it, the more I'm starting to realize just how big this is.

Q: Watching the last lap, what's going through your mind?
E: The last restart, it was a green-white checker, and we started fourth on the top side which is where you want to start at Daytona. Honestly, we started packing up, and we looked back up at the JumboTron and Austin was swerving back and fourth behind Aric Almirola and he was trying to block us. Austin just basically pushed him out of the way and took it on home for us, it was crazy.

Q: What was that winning moment like?
E: Did I really just do it? Did I really just win the Daytona 500 this early in my career? You have some people that's been like in the sport forever (but have not won it). To put it in perspective, Dale Earnhardt raced in the Daytona 500 won it one time in 20 tries. It's an unbelievable feeling man, just surreal, honestly. It was almost like us (HPU) winning the regular season championship my senior year.

Q: How did you first start with Richard Childress Racing?
A: The chaplain at RCR, Richard Payne, used to come to our games right here at High Point, and he would mention to Corey Law, 'Hey man you need to come check out this NASCAR stuff.' Corey Law didn't bite on it, so I said 'Hey, I'm interested, show me.' I had lunch with him right here on campus and then we went up to RCR and I looked at everything and toured it. You could see it is a well-organized machine and a company that works for one common goal, with just how perfect everything was and how clean that whole building was. I was intrigued by it so I pursued him with it and started talking to (HPU head coach Scott) Cherry after March Madness (in 2014) and said I was not sure if I'm gonna pursue basketball anymore and might try to go that route. So I did an internship after March Madness.

Q: What did you do as part of your internship with Richard Childress Racing?
E: I did anything, I practiced a little bit, drilled a little bit being a jack-man and cleaning tires, cleaning the gym, basically janitorial duty, but that was me showing just how dedicated I was, that I would do anything just to be a part of something like that.

Q: What happened next after your internship?
E: The first season was at ARCA, which is the lower level, not even NASCAR yet, and I did a little bit of that, just getting experience (being a jackman). In my second season, I did some ARCA to start the season and then I started pitting Brendan Gaughan at the No. 62 on the Xfinity side (second tier of NASCAR), and at the end of that year I actually pitted Austin Dillon at Homestead (final race of the NASCAR Monster Cup season). They had thrown me on Ryan Newman's crew before on a race and had thrown me in on Austin Dillon's crew. Austin Dillon's the signature car at RCR because it's the No. 3, which was Dale Earnhardt's car, so that was always a goal for me. I felt like I was being tested though just to see just how good I was and if I could do it or not, and I basically blew them out of the water every time. From the crew chief to everyone else, they were happy about my performance.

Q: What happened during this offseason and when did you find out you were going to be on Dillon's car to start the season?
E: NASCAR rules changed in the offseason so that there are only five pit crew members, not six (like in previous years). So that threw us for a loop and I didn't actually know if I was going to have a spot, so that made it a free-for-all. It was a clean slate, it didn't matter what you've done in past years, everyone has to try to be a jack-man or a tire carrier cause we have one person left. So I do both now, I'm a tire carrier and a jack man. It's crazy, the first week we came back and tried it out and everything, I sucked, I couldn't hang a tire or be a tire carrier at all. I looked bad, maybe the worst one and I had a meeting with the coach and he said, 'Right now, you're actually looking like a back-up guy, just to let you know.' So that right there pushed me, drove me and I worked and worked. I stayed late, just working on the craft and trying to get better at something I've never done before (tire carrying), and it paid off. I'm probably one of the better ones if not the best rear-tire carrier and jack-man we've got right now and the coach told me in January that I would be on the No. 3 car.

Q: How much training do you as a crew do on a daily basis?
E: As a collective team we probably do four-to-eight full pit stops on a regular day, but when it comes to drilling, I'm constantly doing that and staying before and after (work). I'm hanging tires and I want to get those reps up there, because that's the only way I can get better at something I've never done. When it comes to jacking (the car), that's pretty much second nature to me now because I've done that for three years or so."

Q: How supportive has the HPU staff been?
E: They've been really supportive. I come and show my love to the guys a bunch behind the scenes in a lot of things that people don't see, like Bible studies and stuff like that. Coach Cherry has definitely been a big supporter, both him and his wife, Cortney, and their son Brody as well. They've been supporting me and keep up with the races and I gave Brody a race car for Christmas signed by Austin Dillon.

Q: What's next in your career?
E: That's a broad question because when it comes to winning the Daytona 500 championship, its the top race you can win (in NASCAR) and you kind of ask yourself 'What is next?' but I would say winning the whole Monster Cup championship outright taking it. That's the only thing that can probably top what happened Sunday.