CONCORD, N.C. (June 21, 2012) – NASCAR drivers spend most of their career turning left every weekend, so when they are forced to make right-hand turns it can be somewhat of a learning curve. Carl Edwards was no exception when he made his first road course start at Sonoma back in 2005.
“Road course racing was one of the hardest things for me to figure out how to do when I came to NASCAR,” Edwards said. “I was terrible. Boris Said and Max Papis have both helped me a ton and now it’s something I really look forward to doing. We’re fortunate to have Marcos Ambrose in the Ford camp since he’s someone I’ve been leaning on the last year or so, and hopefully we can go out there and compete with those guys. It’s about as much fun as you can have in these stock cars. You slide around, go up and down hills, bounce over curbs, shifting gears; it’s really pretty exciting.”
Since his introduction to road course racing in 2005, Edwards has stepped-up the level of competition. In 14 Sprint Cup starts he has earned four top-five and eight top-10 finishes, one pole and led 14 laps. In the Nationwide Series he has made 17 starts and notched wins at Road America and Montreal, in addition to earning seven top fives, 10 top 10s, one pole and led 98 laps.
“I think our Roush Fenway Fords are good enough,” Edwards continued. “It’s always a different race there. To me it seems like that what worked last year doesn’t ever seem to work the next year, so hopefully we get something good this year. Our road course program is good enough for Marcos to win so we need to step it up as drivers and drive as well as him. He’s spectacular and I think he’s one of the best road course racers on Earth, I’d put him up against anyone. He’s shown us how good our equipment can be.”
Edwards will try for his first Sprint Cup road course win at Sonoma Raceway this weekend in the No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion. The race will be televised live on TNT at 3pm ET Sunday.
About Roush Fenway Racing
Roush Fenway Racing is the winningest team in NASCAR history, fielding multiple teams in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series with championship drivers Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Trevor Bayne. Celebrating 25 winning years in 2012, Roush Fenway is the leader in NASCAR marketing solutions, pioneering its exclusive Roush Fenway OnTrack sponsorship measurement services, motorsport’s first team-focused TV show and its award-winning social marketing channel RickyvsTrevor.com. Visit www.RoushFenway.com, circle on Google+ at +Roush Fenway Racing, become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/roushfenway and follow on Twitter at @roushfenway. For sponsorship inquiries call John Bauersfeld at 704.720.4621.
