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[/media-credit]Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks (Dover International Speedway)
Friday Advance (June 1, 2012)
Carl Edwards enters Sunday’s race at Dover with a 2007 win at the Monster Mile under his belt. Edwards talked to media members Friday about what it takes to find success at the track and more.
CARL EDWARDS, No. 99 Subway Ford Fusion – TALK TO US ABOUT YOUR SUBWAY FORD. “Our Subway Ford is actually pretty good. I love being here at Dover. It is one of my best race tracks and our team’s best tracks. All the Fords seem fast and this would be a place for us to come and get a win. It looks like the weather is going to be good for racing on Sunday. I think they said it is supposed to be sunny, so it will be nice and slick. This is one of the most difficult race tracks to keep up with, with the way the rubber builds up and it is a tough track. It is good for us because we really enjoy the challenge. We would like to get our season rolling here with a win and get off of the Chase bubble. It is not fun to be sitting there 10th in points. We want to go have a good solid run like we know we can.”
YOU ARE KNOWN AS CONCRETE CARL. WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO GET YOU IN VICTORY LANE THIS WEEK? “This track has been really good to us but it is a very difficult track. It is easy to miss the mark here with this setup or the strategy. It is going to take a good qualifying effort for us. Pit stalls are huge here because pit road is very tough. The pit stalls are small and getting a good one is of huge importance. Qualifying will be very important and our strategy during the race of being aggressive at the right times and not making mistakes here. This place will chew up cars and spit them out. You have to be careful during the race not to make mistakes. If we can do all that and our car runs how I think it will run then we will have a good shot at it.”
WHAT WAS IT LIKE THE FIRST TIME YOU CAME HERE AND HOW HAVE YOU LEARNED TO GET BETTER AND BETTER? “The first time I came here was in a blank white 99 truck for Jack (Roush) and I had been practicing on my computer a lot and watched videos and worn out guys like Jeff Burton and Kurt and Mark and all those guys that had a lot of laps here like Biffle. I came with a ton of confidence. I went out there and ran the first 20 laps in practice and we were just awesome. We were the fastest thing here and I thought, ‘Man, I’ve got this place, this isn’t so bad.’ Then I promptly ran that truck into the front straightaway wall so hard that I thought I broke my ribs. I hit it a ton. I destroyed the truck. Doug Richard, my crew chief, called me all sorts of things because it was really stupid to tear up that race truck. Then eight laps into the race with the backup truck we were screaming fast and I drove under Jason Leffler, hit the apron, wrecked Leffler and myself right into the wall, eight laps in. That was a low point that season for me. I thought Jack was going to fire me. I thought it was over. I just didn’t respect this place and what it could do to you so quickly. My only word of caution to those guys is don’t get too big of a head at this place because is will get you. Just now in practice I got loose in turns one and two and I thought, ‘Man, I am going to hit the fence.’ It happens so quick. It is a very tough place. My first trip here I thought I had it in control and I did not. Driving in the corners, there are a lot of things going on. The car is sliding sideways and moving. You kind of launch and it feels like you are jumping into the corner and when it lands it depends how the crew chief has it set up but you don’t want it to land and do the death wiggle. It is scary. You gotta get the car set up right for long runs because I can only do that for so many laps when the car is loose. It is really, really difficult.”
HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN YOUR SUCCESS ON CONCRETE? “I’ve had some bad runs on concrete also. We have run well at Nashville, here and Bristol but we have also missed it. Like I was saying, it is really easy to miss the setup here and really be in trouble. If you are off here it is so treacherous and so tough but I think our success is due to really smart crew chiefs, good communication and getting the car set up right. There is no driver that can drive a bad car to a win at these places, I don’t believe. I think you have to have a good car and then you have to drive it well. I think relying on the car being set up to do more work is the key to running well here.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE MAIN REASON FOR FEWER CAUTIONS THIS YEAR? “I don’t know. As a driver less cautions is good. Less cautions are better. It doesn’t hurt as bad, doesn’t cost Jack as much money, so that is good. I don’t know the reason. Let me put it this way, when they started those double-file restarts it felt like we were going to wreck every time there was a caution and had to have a restart. It was unbelievable. Now guys are getting very good at handling the race cars and not risking too much and taking huge chances. Let’s be honest, right now a wreck is so bad for your team and your chances at being in the championship hunt that I think guys are just being smarter and racing smarter. I think that is good.”
LOOKING AHEAD TO POCONO. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE NEW SURFACE THERE? “I am approaching it with an open mind. I don’t really have a plan. I am going to go there and creep up on it and take it easy and ease into the new surface, figuratively with speed and everything. I assume we are going to be screaming fast so I want to make sure we pace ourselves and learn as much as we can during the testing time we have. With a new surface there is a huge opportunity for someone to figure something out and dominate. We want to be those guys. We don’t want to go out there and have some preconceived notion. We are going in with open minds and hoping we can master that surface and take advantage of the unknown there.”
NASCAR DESIGNED THE POINTS SYSTEM THIS WAY TO ENCOURAGE DRIVERS TO RACE HARDER FOR THE VICTORY AND EMPHASIZE WINNING. WHAT YOU SAID A MOMENT AGO PEAKED MY CURIOSITY THAT THE POINTS SYSTEM IS PROMPTING YOU TO DO EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE. WHY IS THAT AND HOW SHOULD NASCAR COME UP WITH A PLAN TO GET YOU TO RACE A LITTLE MORE? “There is not a point system that NASCAR can devise that is going to make us go out there and wreck race cars you guys. There is nothing positive out of wrecking a race car. It hurts your chances at winning the race, which is all of our number one goals when we come to the race track. I want to be very clear; no driver is going out there and putting the focus on not wrecking. We go out there and race. I don’t know if you guys have ridden in these race cars but we are driving the hell out of these race cars. We also are learning and understanding that you can’t really plan on winning a race or championship if you are wrecking. No matter what point system they come up with I can’t think of one where everybody is going to go out there and go, ‘Hell, let’s just go out there and wreck.” That just won’t happen. We can talk about it all we want but we are all going to race to race, not to wreck.”
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