CARL EDWARDS PRESS CONFERENCE (POINTS LEADER)
YOU ARE THE NEW POINTS LEADER BY ONE POINT OVER KEVIN HARVICK. HOW DOES THAT FEEL GOING INTO CHARLOTTE NEXT WEEK? “I feel grateful. That was very, very bad at the beginning of that race. I cannot thank my guys enough for sticking with it and working hard all day. I cannot believe we finished fifth. It feels like a win. That is the most we have done with a car that wasn’t capable of winning ever. I am really proud of my guys. We made good adjustments and I just cannot believe from the way the day started to finish like that is spectacular.”
WHAT WAS THE TROUBLE WITH THE CAR AND WHAT WERE THE ADJUSTMENTS THAT WERE MADE? “Well there were two things that happened. We had the wrong front suspension setting in the car. Bob and I together in practice prepared the wrong setup. They dropped the green and I realized we were in deep trouble. Bob made adjustments to the setup, bigger than we would normally make. We were very fortunate with the late race caution and getting two tires and have a shot to run up there through the traffic. We were very, very fortunate. I am extremely grateful. I do not deserve to be sitting up here. We should have finished 15th or 20th. It all worked out in our favor.”
IN TERMS OF THE CAR, CAN YOU REMEMBER A CHANGE IN MOMENTUM SO FAST IN YOUR CAREER? “Yeah, that was pretty bad. I thought we were going to run a lot better but it isn’t the car. We made the decisions to put the setup in it that we did. Matt was fast, Greg was fast. It is our fault as a group. It is just that usually for us when we make those bad decisions we can’t recover like we did today. That is what I am really grateful for. That was amazing.”
WAS THERE A MOMENT WHEN YOU KNEW THE CAR WASN’T SET UP RIGHT? “I had a hint of it in the first corner when we drove down. I was like, ‘man, this is not good.’ I thought maybe it would be better the next lap but it wasn’t so by the second lap I realized we were in trouble. That was the worst my car has felt in a race in a long time.”
DO YOU NEED A LITTLE LUCK TO WIN THE CHASE AND DO YOU THINK IF YOU PULL THIS OUT YOU WILL LOOK BACK ON TODAY AS THE KEY MOMENT IN WINNING THE CHAMPIONSHIP? “I feel like we have had two weeks with very lucky breaks, both last week and this week. To be able to come back from a bad position on the race track. There is still so much racing left. We have run four races and it feels like we have run 400. There is a lot that can happen in the next six races. I have a feeling there will be more moments that define this championship, all the way up to the last lap at Homestead I think you will have to be on your game.”
WHEN YOU WERE BACK A LAP DOWN DID YOU START SCOREBOARD WATCHING AT ALL TO SEE WHERE THE CHASE GUYS WERE AND HOW IMPORTANT WAS IT TO GET BY HARVICK AT THE END? “They need to put that scoreboard somewhere where it is easier to see. I about ran into the fence trying to look at that thing off of turn two. I watched as best I could but you can’t focus too much on that. You have to run your own race as painful as it is. That last pass of Kevin meant a lot. We both knew it too. We knew since we were tied that whoever finished first would be ahead one point so that was good that we were able to do that. It will be nice for the guys and everybody at the shop to know to be leading the points even though it doesn’t mean much. We just talked about Brad being 11 points back. It can change in a heartbeat.”
JIMMIE WINNING TODAY, DOES IT REAFFIRM THAT HE IS GOING TO BE THERE AT THE END AGAIN? “I think he should just pack it up. It’s over, he is too far back (laughter). I don’t know. He is going to be tough I think.”
DO YOU HAVE CONCERNS GOING INTO CHARLOTTE NEXT WEEK CONSIDERING HOW BAD YOU WERE MOST OF TODAY? “That is the first thing Bob and I talked about when he got over to the car, making sure we don’t make the same mistake at Charlotte. That place has been a little difficult for us. We have been very hit and miss there. I do feel like our run in the All-Star race and 600 earlier this year will be something we can build on. We have a baseline strategy with the setup and we will go use that and hopefully it will work out better.”
YOU TOUCHED ON THIS A LITTLE BIT, BUT EVEN THOUGH YOU GUYS STRUGGLED, WHAT DO YOU THINK IT SAYS ABOUT YOUR TEAM AS A WHOLE THAT YOU WERE ABLE TO COME BACK FROM A 15TH OR 20TH PLACE CAR AND FINISH IN THE TOP 5? “Well, first we’re lucky because we had to have luck go our way. We had two cautions that were timed perfectly, so that was a big deal. But we’ve messed up enough in the past that I’m pretty proud of our ability to just kind of take our bad days and just keep plugging along. You know, we’ve messed up some races and some points races in the past, and I believe we’ve learned from that. So it’s kind of a little test when you go through something like this to see if somebody melts down or if you can kind of keep going through it, and I’m glad it worked out today, but there was a lot of luck involved, as well.”
