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While Brown has been the public face of car #888’s struggles this year, the emotional Edwards has ridden the rollercoaster every bit as hard as his driver. From the pressure and self-doubt that comes with poor results to the embarrassment of finding the now infamous undersized restrictor, and now the ultimate relief of victory. It was all flooding through Edwards’ mind as he climbed the podium in front of a crowd chanting his name. “It’s emotional,” Edwards told Speedcafe. “It’s silly for one little race at QR. It’s an overreaction, but it’s been a difficult journey this year. There’s been a lot of scrutiny and a lot of self-scrutiny… “This weekend the pressure was the highest it could have been. There’s no excuses and to come away with a couple of podiums is a big relief. “It brings up a lot of emotions that we’ve been kind of suppressing or holding in, with all the dramas that we’ve had.” While Triple Eight and Supercars pointed the finger at each other following the discovery of the undersized restrictor last week, Edwards shoulders more than his share of the blame. “I felt embarrassed that we, as a team, didn’t find it earlier. It’s on us, it’s on me personally. As a team, we missed it,” he said. “I can understand how that happens because there’s so many cracks that it can fall through, but at the end of the day, we missed it. “But I didn’t really spend much time [dwelling] on it because I was putting all my energy into going forward.” The restrictor story dominated the build-up to Ipswich and piled immense pressure on the driver and team to execute. But it also freed Edwards from a previously all-consuming search for an answer to the mysterious struggle. “This weekend is not about the fact the restrictor came off and we won. It’s just not worth that amount of time,” he said. “You can do the simulations and work it out at each track, but when you feel like you’re down, you feel like you have to over-extend just to get to the competition. “It’s demoralising to be operating with one hand behind your back and carrying the weight that there’s something wrong that we’re doing that we can’t find.” Triple Eight pressed ahead with a plan to move Brown into its spare car – a decision made after Perth in desperation more than science. Edwards said the sudden turnaround is the result of “lots of things that are all adding up” as the team continues to work on its Mustang package. Brown publicly thanked Edwards in the aftermath of the race for not giving up on him during the struggles. It was a comment that, when relayed back by Speedcafe, brought tears to Edwards’ eyes and a loss for words. “Will is the one in the spotlight,” he said. “He’s the face of it and has taken a large brunt of it. So I’m just happy for him that we could convert something this weekend.” Edwards hopes the struggles of the season will ultimately make the team better and kick-off what just a fortnight ago seemed an unlikely charge towards a second championship. “This has made us work harder and look at more things than we ever have before,” he said. “Sometimes when you win a lot, you can become complacent, and I think this is an example of that. “The more you dig, the more you find, and the more questions you have, hopefully you can find some answers. Some of that comes to lap time. “But I’m not saying we’re back. We want to be in that top four, working our way in, building to win again. “I feel like I’m starting again a little bit, building that confidence up from scratch. That’s what we plan to do for the rest of the year.” The deal Brown cut with Supercars to get infamous restrictor