Associated Press

Carl Edwards, slipping into his Nationwide car, has distinct personalities on and off the track, competitors say.

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Cody Byrnes prayed for Carl Edwards to win.

They met by chance two years ago before the Sprint Cup race at Michigan. Cody, confined to a wheelchair, gave his favorite driver a thumbs-up. Edwards stopped. He signed a few things and told Cody that he would give him his trophy if he won that day's race.

Cody spent much of the race with his hands folded, hoping and praying Edwards would win.

Kevin Harvick has seen the other side of Edwards, the competitive -- or what some might call the darker -- side.

Harvick, noting Edwards' distinct personalities on and off the track, called his rival a "fake" earlier this year. Harvick, who fought with Edwards in the garage at Charlotte two years ago, said of his foe: "You can't be the nice guy [and] you can't be the bad guy."

Yet, can Edwards, or anyone, be both? Or at least be compassionate and forceful at the same time -- giving trophies to children but also known for wrecking Brad Keselowski twice this year?

"It is very possible to be kind but not weak," Edwards said. "I feel as a person, it's my job to be kind to people, treat everyone the way I'd like to be treated, but I will not be walked on."

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Cody Byrnes doesn't say much. He can't. Born with a joint and muscle disease that has left the 17-year-old confined to a wheelchair for much of the last nine years, his mother, Teresa, explains what Edwards means to them.

Two years ago, Cody was with his parents near the garage entrance at Michigan International Speedway. He displayed his loyalty to Edwards with a 99 flag attached to his wheelchair. After seeing Cody give him a thumbs-up, Edwards signed the flag and Cody's shirt and told Cody that if he won the race, he'd give the trophy to him. Just meet him back at the same spot.

After Edwards won, Cody was back near the garage area waiting for the race winner.

Edwards delivered on his pre-race promise and more. He signed the trophy's base.

"Cody, you're the man

"Carl Edwards

"You never give up."

Those words resonate with Teresa. It's something she and her husband tell Cody often, especially when Cody tries to use a walker.

"It's really hard for him," Teresa said. "We just say, 'Hey, you can't give up.'"

And then Cody tries again to walk.

The trophy, though, represents more than a just a phrase and a signature to Cody. It brought him attention he wouldn't have received. Cody was featured in the local newspaper. A TV crew did a story on him. His high school displayed the trophy.

"Cody ... felt like he was a star," Teresa said.

She wanted to show Edwards what his gift meant by putting together a scrapbook. There was the local newspaper's story, photos of the TV interview, and the letter she wrote, thanking him. She sent it to Edwards' mother to give him as a Christmas present in 2008.

Last month, the Byrnes again were near the garage entrance at Michigan where they first met Edwards. They saw him again this time. He stopped to talk.

"Did you ever get that scrapbook?" Teresa asked

"For Christmas?" Edwards said, completing her sentence.

"Oh yeah," Edwards said. "That was the best present I opened that day."

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Brad Keselowski tried to contain his anger. Only moments earlier, he had been on the track at Atlanta when Edwards retaliated for an earlier incident and spun Keselowski.

Suddenly, Keselowski's car lifted, rolled and slammed roof-first into the concrete wall.

Soon after walking out of the infield care center, Keselowski criticized Edwards' actions: "He could have killed somebody in the grandstands, wrecking somebody intentionally."

In July, those two drivers confronted each other again on the track in a Nationwide race. Keselowski moved Edwards up the track and took the lead. Edwards retaliated, wrecking Keselowski to win.

Apologetic other cars were collected in that incident, Edwards defended his actions, nonetheless.

"He took the win away from me, and I took it back from him," Edwards said.

Edwards would not be walked over.

It is something to ask drivers to act in the car as they might out of it. They are racing for wins, a championship and money. Their decisions are made in split seconds.

Jeff Gordon acknowledges that drivers in the car are different than when out of it.

"If you're in a calm, controlled environment, then your emotions and your personality is going to reflect that," Gordon said. "You go into a highly intense environment with a lot of pressure, a competitive intense environment, it's going to affect your personality and how you react to things."

So, which is the real person?

"I kind of think it's more the person in the race car," Gordon said. "I think you really find out truly who you are in those moments, probably more so than you do outside the race car in a more controlled environment."

Maybe so, but Teresa Byrnes doesn't see it that way with Edwards.

"I know that there have been things that have happened," Teresa said of Edwards, "but of all the things, when he's talked to Cody ... I think he's a good role model for our son. He's someone that Cody can look up to."