Edwards Using Runner-up Texas Chassis This Week at Homestead

Edwards has a track best 5.7 average finish in 7 Homestead starts (Getty) 

Carl Edwards
Team: No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Bob Osborne
Chassis: RK-739 This car last raced at Texas this month & finished second

QUOTES

Carl Edwards on racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway: “I’m just excited to get in the race car this weekend. It’s a fun race track and we run very well there. The last few weeks we’ve run really well. To be a part of this championship battle is truly an honor. The team and I are all having fun with it, and we’re going to go to Homestead and give it everything we’ve got, and hopefully we can end up in victory lane again. That would be a heck of a way to end the season and win the championship.”


Crew chief Bob Osborne on racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway: “Going into Homestead we’re going to really stick to what got us in this position in the first place and that’s try to have the best race car possible and go run the best race we possibly can, and finish as high in the points as we can and try to beat that 14 team. Definitely last year’s race setup is going to apply directly to this year for us. We plan on starting right where we left off setup-wise and trying to improve that setup for this race at Homestead.”

FAST FACTS

* THE CHASE IS ON… Carl Edwards enters the final race of the season at Homestead leading the NASCAR Sprint Cup point standings by three points over Tony Stewart. He has earned one win, 18 top-five, 25 top-10 finishes and two poles this season.

* Carl Edwards will make his eighth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Homestead-Miami Speedway in this weekend’s Ford 400. In his previous seven starts, Edwards has accumulated two wins, four top-five, six top-10 finishes and one pole.

* FOR THE RECORD…Edwards’ average start at Homestead is 13.4, his average finish is 5.7 which is the best of all active drivers. He has also led a total of 441 laps there, the most among active drivers. He has only finished outside the top 10 once in seven starts.

* IN THE LOOP… According to NASCAR’s Loop Statistics compiled over the last seven races at Homestead, Edwards has turned 173 of the track’s fastest laps, spent 1,379 laps in the top 15, and has a driver rating of 117.5, which leads all active drivers in these categories.

* ON THE TRACK…The Aflac team will be unloading chassis RK-739. This car last raced at Texas two weeks ago where Edwards led 14 laps and finished second.

* REWIND: HOMESTEAD 2010… Carl Edwards dominated the NASCAR Sprint Cup race and took home his second win of the season. Edwards started from the outside of the front row en route to leading 190 of the 267 laps and taking the checkered flag in the Ford 400.

- Roush Fenway Racing, Press Release

Kevin Harvick Comments Friday From Phoenix International Raceway

ARE YOU SURPRISED AT HOW YOUR PIT CREW MOVE VERSUS JIMMIE JOHNSON’S PIT CREW MOVE ARE PORTRAYED DIFFERENTLY?: “I think when you do it in the middle of the race, obviously it’s going to be a bit more 100 percent and there’s no hiding. For us, it’s been very beneficial. We hadn’t gained a spot on pit road in the Chase and we haven’t lost one since we changed so the results for us have been very simple to look at. I’m sure they feel like they’re in the same situation and it’s different. I think it’s something that you obviously don’t expect to have happen in the middle of a race. It’s just very open and everybody gets to see it.”

WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT THE 48 TEAM CHANGED THEIR PIT CREW?: “Everybody’s got weaknesses though. I think on that particular day with the pit stall selections that you saw in that particular race – it was a very unique situation. If I was them, if you can and if you qualify worse than the 11 (Denny Hamlin), I would pit right in front of them again just to do it all over. We all loved watching it – it was great. I hope it all happens the exact opposite way this week.”

HOW DO YOU DEFINE YOURSELF VERSUS THE OTHER TWO DRIVERS YOU ARE RACING AGAINST FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP?: “I think our whole team is just a lot different. Especially, it’s a lot different or we’re a unique bunch I guess you could say. I guess you could categorize us as a little rough or hardcore type of racers that have come up through the ranks. It’s just a little bit different than the other two teams. I think you guys can figure it out.”

IS IT BAD TO TRY TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP FOR AN ORGANIZATION RATHER THAN AN INDIVIDUAL TEAM?: “I think Mike (Ford, 11 crew chief) should take his own advice to his driver and not insert your foot into your mouth when you don’t do something that winds up being something that you say it should be. I think the comments that he made after the race about being better than the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) team and all that stuff, I think he’s just trying to stir stuff up. Whatever it takes to win is what you’ve got to do. If there’s something wrong with that then I’m missing something.”

WHY DO YOU THINK MIKE FORD MADE THE COMMENTS HE DID FOLLOWING THE RACE AT TEXAS?: “The only good thing that comes from being cocky like that is you better win because if you don’t, you’re going to have to answer a lot of questions about your comments when you get done. You create a lot more work than what you see initially when you say those things, if it all doesn’t go your way. I think when you’re trying to intimidate the guy who’s won four championships in a row, I think you might need to go rethink your strategy and just go out and worry about racing because it’s not really something that was probably necessary. He got all over Denny (Hamlin) at Dover for saying the things that he did about RCR (Richard Childress Racing) and the organization and how disruptive their team, in my opinion all the things that he said seem to be a disruption to his team and now Denny is going to have to come in here and answer all those questions.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT BEING 59 POINTS BACK WITH PHOENIX AND HOMESTEAD REMAINING?: “My thoughts are just to go keep doing the same things that we’re doing and being in the position that we’re in right now, we’ve stepped up the finishes and things that we needed to in the Chase, but over the next two weeks it’s all about trying to win a race or two in the next two weeks. This has been a great race track for us. The average finish through the Chase is great, but it looks like this Chase is all about taking those wins and that’s the one thing that we haven’t done so far is win a race. I think we have to over the next two weeks in order to keep control of our situation.”

IS THERE ETIQUETTE TO CHOOSING PIT STALLS AND DO THE TEAM MEMBERS HAVE TIME TO LOOK AT THE OTHER CREW NEXT TO THEM?: “I think last week, when you look at the pit stop stuff, when you’re racing against a guy that’s running in about the same spot on the track, it becomes a total nightmare for both teams whether you’re in front or behind. It becomes tough to make quality pit stops on the race track. There is etiquette and you want to be around the slowest car that you can be around that you don’t think will be on the lead lap so they won’t be around and you can have an opening in and an opening out. The pit stalls are a lot smaller here so who knows what’s going to happen. I tend to get frustrated in those situations and just gas it and make sure that guy doesn’t stop too short. It aggravates the rear tire changer because you just get a little too close to him.”