By Chris Jenkins

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) _ Despite an early season shakeup that saw him lose his crew chief to teammate Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards heads into Sunday's race at Chicagoland Speedway just outside the top 10 in the Nextel Cup standings.

And now, team owner Jack Roush might reunite Edwards with crew chief Bob Osborne for the stretch run to NASCAR's version of the playoffs.

In an attempt to spark his team's performance, Roush made another of his trademark crew chief swaps in April, moving Osborne from Edwards' No. 99 team to McMurray's No. 26.

Wally Brown, the lead engineer on Edwards' team, was promoted to become Edwards' new crew chief.

But those moves might turn out to be temporary. Edwards said Saturday that Roush made the moves on a 90-day provisional basis, and expects to meet with Roush soon to re-evaluate the changes.

``The 90 days is up this week, so I don't know exactly what we're going to do,'' Edwards said. ``I'm sure we'll have a meeting about it. Hopefully I get a say in this one.''

And if Edwards does have his say, will he ask to have Osborne back or stick with Brown?

``I don't know yet,'' Edwards said. ``I just have to sit down and think about it. I've been trying to just go along and work and not worry about it too much. I guess we'll just all sit down and talk as a group _ we all know each other really well _ and decide what's best for everybody and go on.''

Edwards said Brown has proven himself to be a top-level crew chief in the past three months.

``To me, Bob and Wally are both just as great as one another,'' Edwards said. ``And I think that either one of them would be awesome.''

Although Edwards was initially resistant to the change _ which he called a ``big time'' shock _ he says the team is performing well under Brown's direction.

``Everything's going great,'' Edwards said. ``It was a surprise to me to begin with, but it's been going pretty smoothly and everybody seems to be doing their job. We just need to sit down and look at everything and decide. But ultimately, it's Jack's decision.''

With test sessions planned for this week, Roush said the team will likely meet next week to determine whether to make another round of changes.

Roush said reuniting Edwards with Osborne is a possibility.

``There is a chance,'' Roush said. ``It's not been on my mind, but there is a chance.''

Roush said he has been pleased with the results of his changes so far. His main goals were to have Osborne work with McMurray, who joined the team in the off-season, to get him used to driving cars that are built and set up more closely to those of his teammates.

Roush also wanted McMurray's former crew chief, respected veteran Jimmy Fennig, to help straighten out the No. 17 Busch Series team that fields cars for Matt Kenseth.

Although he decided to make the initial switch on his own, Roush said he'll take input from drivers and team members this time around _ a process he calls more ``democratic'' than it was the first time around.

``We had seven changes we made, and it wasn't practical to tell everyone (beforehand),'' Roush said, smiling. ``That was a time for leadership.''

Edwards concedes that Roush has a strong track record of matching his drivers with the right crew chief.

Besides, Edwards said, ``When they called me up to run this 99 car, I'm sure everybody said, 'What the ... ?'''

Despite the changes and some disappointing finishes that have him sitting 14th in the points heading into Sunday's race, Edwards said his cars have been just as good as last year, when he won four races with Osborne.

``Things are going pretty well right now,'' Edwards said. ``We've run great. We're having great cars, they're fast, but the same story _ just some bad luck. ... But I think that as long as we don't confuse that with poor performance, we'll be fine.''

Now in his second full season of Nextel Cup competition _ plus a full Busch Series schedule _ Edwards remains as busy as ever. An avid mountain biker, Edwards is training under a program designed by Chris Carmichael, Lance Armstrong's coach.

But while he hasn't slowed down on or off the track, he said things are a lot simpler the second time around.

``Last year was like a complete whirlwind,'' Edwards said. ``Now I feel like I have my hands around it.''