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[/media-credit]Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Capital City 400 (Richmond International Raceway)
Friday Advance (April 27, 2012)
Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Ford EcoBoost Fusion, has three top-five and seven top-10 finishes in 15 career starts at Richmond International Raceway. Despite never winning at the track, Edwards has enjoyed decent success and spoke to media following the first practice session Friday afternoon.
CARL EDWARDS, No. 99 Ford EcoBoost Fusion – CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR EXPECTATIONS HERE THIS WEEKEND? “Our expectation is to run pretty well here. We ran top-five both races last year and this track, the first time I came here was 2004 in the Cup car, or 2005. We ran great and it was a blast. We had a super fast car and finished sixth and I thought, ‘Man, this is going to be my favorite race track.’ Then for the next four or five years it was terrible for us. Now we are back to where we think we can win each time we come to Richmond. That is good. We are proud to have Ford EcoBoost on the car and Ford has the Electric pace car. We checked that out this morning and it is neat. They’ve got it charged up and said it will have no problems. We would like to get a win and get up there in the points where our teammates are. At this point, there is no better place for us to be than Richmond. Practice went well and we were really fast in race trim. I messed up my qualifying lap and that will hurt us a little in qualifying but I am looking forward to it. I think it is going to be a good race.”
WHERE DO YOU STAND ON THE DEBATE OF HOW THE RACES HAVE GONE? DO YOU THINK THEY ARE BORING AND WHY DO YOU THINK THEY HAVE BEEN INCIDENT FREE? “I did a lot of driving this week and listened to the SIRIUS XM channel and I was surprised at how big a debate this is and how many people are discussing this. I guess people label some fans as racing purists and they like the idea of watching the race cars go around and the guys work hard to drive them. That is what I like to see. I am more of a fan of what goes on on the race track during the competition. I think that cautions and wrecks and all of those things, I don’t think they for me personally add a bunch to the competition. I guess if people, if a large number of fans, if that is important to them and that is what they want to see then NASCAR and all of us have to decide what we are going to do about it. Are we going to let the races play out naturally and be the competitions that they are? I think that is the best thing. Or, are we going to address each persons complaint and try to fit the sport to people? That is another way to go. My opinion is that not every race has to be an exciting, dramatic, crazy bumper-to-bumper finish. If you just let them play out naturally you will get those really great moments. We have only run eight races or something. Who knows what is going to happen. When we left Daytona we weren’t complaining about a lack of wrecks. I think it will be just fine.”
WHY DO YOU THINK IT HAS BEEN THIS WAY SINCE CALIFORNIA? “I firmly believe, and NASCAR hates it when I say this, but I firmly believe that we should not be racing with downforce, sideforce and all these aerodynamic devices. We do not need splitters on the race cars and giant spoilers. What has happened, in my humble opinion, and I have not been around long enough to say something definitely, but it is pretty common sense that if all the cars are very similar and all the drivers are really good, which we all think we are, and we are all within a tenth of a second of each other but are relying on this clean air and downforce to make the cars go that speed then by definition if the guy in front of you is disturbing the air then your car is not going to be able to go as fast as it could in clean air. So why don’t we get rid of these aerodynamic devices and race cars on race tracks with tires that are softer, because we don’t have as much force on them that they would give up quicker. That is my opinion on how to make the cars and the drivers able to do more and put it in the drivers and crew chiefs hands. I think that is important. I don’t know if that will make more exciting races but it sure as hell will make a guy able to go up through the field if he has a fast race car and I think that is exciting.”
CARL EDWARDS CONTINUED — WHEN YOU WERE LISTENING TO THE RADIO, DID YOU HEAR ANY QUESTIONS OF WHAT IS WRONG WITH CARL EDWARDS? “Yeah, I have gotten really good at ignoring the commentary on me over the years. I was actually on one of the morning shows and they asked me that. I said that I gave our season a C+ because we have made a couple mistakes. We learned firsthand, getting beat by a guy last year that wasn’t hardly in the picture until the last 10 races, we are gearing up to be the best we can at the end of the year. We have strength in our team right now and don’t have a giant weak point. We don’t have a big problem anywhere. We just have to start putting together better races and making better calls and qualify a little better. There are some little things we have to work on. I think we will get there and I tell you what, just don’t count us out. We could be really good.”
WHAT IS YOUR FIRST MEMORY OF GOING TO A RACE AND WHY DID IT STICK WITH YOU SO MUCH SO THAT YOU WANTED TO BECOME A DRIVER? “I have been going to races since I was two weeks old. I don’t remember the first race but my earliest memories were going to the races with my parents and watching my dad race and to me it was something that just looked kind of scary. Guys put on a fireproof suit and helmet and go out there and race. It just seemed really, really intense. From a young age I was really captivated by the whole spectacle of the sport. As I got a little older and started to build up a little confidence I thought maybe I could try that sometime. The first time my dad let me drive his race car during a hot lap session I was ruined right then. It scared me, it excited me and it was spectacular. I guess I was, from the beginning this was where I was going to end up, at least doing this. Not in this position. I am very fortunate to be here. It is one of the neatest things in the world. If we could get more kids to experience it and educate the kids about what is going on at the race track and somehow get them in a race car and experience that exhilaration and actually firsthand know what it is like to do this or attempt to do it I think they would be hooked.”
IF EITHER OF YOUR KIDS SAID THEY WANTED TO RACE DOWN THE ROAD, WOULD YOU BE FOR THAT? “Oh boy. I tell you what. The first thing is that they would have to come to me. That is the thing my parents did. They never pushed me to race. They did everything they could to keep me from racing. I think if that is what they really want to do then they will have to prove it to me that they really want to do it but I am not going to guide them along or steer them toward racing. It will be whatever they want to do.”
DO YOU CONCUR WITH MATT KENSETH WHO SAID HE IS LOOKING FORWARD TO GOING TO TALLADEGA? “Well, winning the 500 will make you feel that way. I would say if we can go there and work together the way we have and do the things we have been doing at the superspeedways then we will be good. It is still that bottleneck in the season where anything can happen. We don’t have any points to give up so we will go with a different attitude I am sure than Matt and Greg. They can go there and have a bad race and be okay. That is one that scares our team because we don’t want to be 15th in points right now. We want to be up there marching toward the top-five. If we can run there the way we have the last six or eight restrictor plate races then we will be okay.”
HOW MUCH DO YOU FEEL LIKE RICHMOND COULD BRING BACK CAUTIONS? “I will not go down that path. I do not think it is right to say that we need wrecks. That is just a messed up thing to say. I think we need good racing and I think that if you’ve got guys that are able to race close together and guys that are able to come through the field because their car is better and they can actually pass people then you are going to get excitement. That might come in the form of wrecks but a place like Richmond is a place where regardless of the aerodynamic devices and tire compounds this place seems to have a way that a guy can make something happen. That is good. I stick to my statement earlier. When a guy has a fast race car he has to be able to drive that thing up through the field. All you have to do is go back and look at old racing tapes. Even when I came in six or eight years ago we were just a little less reliant on the aero stuff and the cars were more spread. I think that is something we should strive for. If we don’t then the racing is still awesome. Tony and I’s competition at the end of last year was spectacular. It isn’t that we can’t do it, I just think we could set things up so that we have more of that.”
CARL EDWARDS CONTINUED — DO YOU THINK WE WILL SEE GUYS SAVING STUFF FOR THE END OF THE SEASON? “That is something that was brought up when I was listening to the programming that I forgot until you just said that. It might be that some of this green flag racing and guys being more reserved is that they realize that right now you can’t put yourself in a hole. You can’t go out there and race like you would like to sometimes because this is real important this first 26 races to get locked in. Maybe there is some of that going on.”
DO YOU THINK PROGRAMS ARE SAVING THINGS FOR THE END? “You don’t ever save something. You want to go get everything you can but you might say, ‘We are pretty good here so let’s go work on this other thing.’ Bob and I have been doing that the last couple of weeks. We have been working on some different style setup stuff and it hasn’t been that great. At least we know and we tried it and understand it and if we need to use it at Texas in the fall or something we understand it better. There is a little of that going on but you have to be careful. You don’t want to give up a race. You can’t afford to finish 20th right now.”
IS THERE ANY MORE OF THAT GOING ON THIS YEAR THAN YOU WOULD HAVE DONE BEFORE? “I don’t know that there is more of it going on but I think as this evolves and people get better at understanding when to push during the season you will see patters of that emerge. If there is one thing I have learned in this sport it is that even if we all go back to separate shops and don’t talk to each other we all end up doing the same things and working the same ways. Maybe some of that is happening.”
WHY ARE POINTS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THEY HAVE EVER BEEN? “That is a very good question. From your perspective, it is hard to understand but go ahead and put yourself in my position. We are ninth in points and don’t have a win. It is not like we are tied for first right now. We have to be very cautious with our points. Let’s say we know some things. Let’s assume some things that are true. Right now we don’t have the fastest car on the race track every week so we can say, ‘Alright for the next 16 or 18 races we might still not have the fastest car.’ Under the old points system we would say, ‘Damn, we are already ninth and not running that great, let’s just go for it here. Let’s do some crazy stuff and get a win or two and have some fun.’ But we can’t do that now because we say that we have to make it into the top-10. We cannot give up any points. What we are banking on, what we hope comes is that we hope in those last 10 races that we are good enough then to go shoot for the championship. If you were in my position you would never be able to forgive yourself if you were ninth in points here in Richmond and they drop the green flag on the last restart here and you have a great race car and you go for some bonzai run and wreck the thing and don’t make the Chase. Let’s say those last 10 races we have a hell of a run and would have won the thing if we would have made it. I would be a moron to give it up right here at Richmond. I don’t know if that is right or wrong but that is why it ends up this way because guys start to think, ‘Okay, just gather all your troops here, focus, work everything out, make the Chase and then go get ‘em.’ That wasn’t intended by NASCAR I am sure but that is the way we feel.”
REGARDING TALLADEGA, ARE WE BACK TO THE OLD STRATEGY WHERE THE MAIN FOCUS THERE IS TO AVOID TROUBLE? WHAT DO YOU THINK THE ROLE OF THE TANDEM WILL BE AT THE END OF THE RACE? “I have no clue. I don’t know. I had to ask somebody where we were going next week this morning. I really haven’t thought about that one yet. I really don’t know. I think that race, the way those races go, you could have tandems, green-white-checkers, or four cars figure out how to work together. It is unpredictable. It is tough. I just don’t know.”
