CARL EDWARDS POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE
CARL EDWARDS, No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion – TELL US ABOUT YOUR LAP OUT THERE. “We got very fortunate with our draw. The track was getting faster and faster so that was very good for us. We didn’t expect to pick up that much so that was a nice surprise to drive down into turn one and have that much grip. Starting position is really important here. We feel like we were pretty fast in race trim. I haven’t looked at the weather forecast but someone said there might be some weather tomorrow. We were fortunate to spend some time in race trim today. I am ready to go racing. I am pretty excited about hopefully our turnaround from last week. That was miserable.”
Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Redd’s Apple Ale Ford Fusion, met with members of the media following his qualifying lap at Pocono Raceway Friday afternoon. Keselowski, who is pulling double duty this weekend, also driving a Nationwide car at Iowa Speedway Saturday night, discussed the double-duty and more.
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Redd’s Apple Ale Ford Fusion – HOW FAST DO YOU THINK YOUR CAR WILL BE FOR THE RACE? “When we were here last time our practice speeds weren’t all that great and then when the race came our car was really strong. We got shuffled out on one of the late race restarts that I love so much. I feel like that will probably be the case again here this weekend.”
HAVE YOU FIGURED OUT THE KEY TO THOSE RESTARTS? “Yeah, start in the front row and even sometimes that doesn’t work. Last fall that didn’t work either. The last two Pocono races we have been running up front toward the end and got shuffled on the restarts. Sometimes it is the lane you are in or a guy in front of you having trouble. You try to be in the front lane and then you aren’t the guy that has the problem. That is what you try to do.”
DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE A GRASP ON THIS CAR OR IS IT STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS? “Race cars are always a work in progress. This one, I don’t feel quite as comfortable with as the one I had last year and that is not so much a reflection of the car itself and how it was built from the team side or NASCAR side but more some of the rules and things we had developed in last year’s car not being available for this year’s car. Areas where we were ahead in this year’s rule package were not allowed to be used and areas where we were behind are areas where this year’s rule package seems to really favor. That hasn’t helped us but I am not trying to make excuses because there have been several races we have been very fast and haven’t executed to get the result. I look at places like Loudon where we could have won and didn’t execute when it counted. It has been a culmination of things but certainly this car is more difficult to get a handle on.”
WAS IT EXASPERATED BY MOVING FROM DODGE TO FORD? “I don’t know how you quantify it with Dodge or Ford or whatever. There were so many changes. I don’t know how you could pick one and say it was harder than the next. I would say it is a lot of things adding up that make it a difficult task but my guys are up for the challenge.”
CONSIDERING WHERE YOU ARE IN POINTS AND ON THE CHASE BUBBLE, WAS THERE ANY THOUGHT OF NOT DOING IOWA? “Not really. I had committed and Iowa is a special track to me and the Nationwide program is important to me as well. We have been having some struggles on pit road and that has led to part of our struggles and we are using this as a weekend for the Cup pit crew to go out there and pit the Nationwide car and try to get better on pit road. Going to Iowa is a way for me to support that cause. I am trying to look at the positives that way.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI CONTINUED – ANY WEAR AND TEAR GOING BACK AND FORTH? “There is always a little but I get paid to be tough enough to do that. That is my job.”
WHAT IS YOUR SCHEDULE LIKE? “I am going to fly as soon as I get done talking to you and practice at Iowa and then come back and practice the Cup car tomorrow. Then we will leave after practice and go run the Nationwide car. It is busy but I am sure I will be able to get a nap in the plane or something.”
EARLIER THIS WEEK DALE JARRETT MADE A COMMENT THAT HE THOUGHT PART OF YOUR PROBLEM WAS DISTRACTION AND BEING TOO OBSESSED WITH THE 48 TEAM. WHAT IS YOUR REACTION? “At the end of the day everybody says you are racing a stop watch but you really aren’t. If we were racing a stop watch then all these cars that are setting track records would be leading the points. We aren’t racing a stop watch, we are racing other cars. That is what makes this sport what it is. This isn’t land-speed racing. We are racing other cars and that car is considerably faster than the rest of the field. If you aren’t upset about that then you aren’t here to win.”
IS THERE A LITTLE OVER ANALYSIS ABOUT YOUR TEAM AND WHAT IS WRONG? “I don’t want to say over analysis; I think probably just the wrong analysis and not looking at the right things. I don’t see a lot of comments about some of the things that have really happened. It is more rhetoric over hypothetical’s. I think that is how I feel about it.”
WHAT IS FICTION AND WHAT IS FACT? “Well, the facts are we have had failures, struggled on pit road and haven’t executed on the last restart of races. That is what is important in this sport.”
IS A LOT OF THE EXECUTION JUST CIRCUMSTANTIAL? “Yes and no. There have been a lot of circumstances but I thought we had the car to win the race probably five or six times and half of those the yellow came out at the wrong time or I didn’t execute the restart or we had a bad pit stop. There has been a lot of talk about how Jimmie (Johnson) or Kasey (Kahne) or Matt (Kenseth) could easily have five or six wins. I think we could have five or six wins and things just haven’t all come together. The races where we have had the speed and execution, the strategy hasn’t gone our way and the breaks haven’t gone our way. The races where we haven’t had speed to win we have caught the strategy and execution but it didn’t matter because we weren’t fast. We haven’t put all the pieces together but I know they are there and that is why I am more confident than perhaps those on the outside.”
SO WHEN YOU AND PAUL ANALYZE IT, THERE IS NO SENSE YOU NEED TO DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY? “No, I know we are doing the right things. I am not panicked from that sense. I know when it clicks it is going to click really hard and heavy and we are going to rattle off some really strong finishes and potentially a lot of wins.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI CONTINUED — HAS THIS IOWA TRIP BEEN ON THE SCHEDULE SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR? “I think we put it on in April or May.”
YOU KNOW YOU MAY TAKE SOME GRIEF ON THE TIMING FROM PEOPLE. WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THAT? “I say I made a promise I would go there and I am going to make good on my promise. That is just as important as anything else I do.”
THERE WAS A LOT OF TALK ABOUT WHAT MAKES A GOOD RACE LAST WEEK. “I am no different than anyone else. I watch these races on TV and I love watching everyone run side by side and run into each other and wreck each other and get out of the car and punch each other. I love that stuff too. That doesn’t mean I think it is great racing. That’s not great racing, it is great fighting. Great racing to me is a pass for the lead. It is those type of things. So there is a pretty big difference there.”
YOUR JOB IS TO MAKE IT SO IT ISN’T GREAT RACING? “Yeah, that is m y job but it doesn’t mean I can’t realize when it has been a good race.”
YOUR THOUGHTS ON WATKINS GLEN AFTER THE WILD FINISH THERE LAST YEAR? “I am looking forward to going back. We have a great package with the 2 team for the Glen and we will run the Nationwide race there as well. I am pumped about that race. The 2 car has finished second there the last three years in a row with Kurt (Busch) the first year and then me twice. Hopefully we find that extra spot. A road course win is the one thing that stands out to me. I would like to win the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard but a road course win would be big for me because I have won on the other genres of tracks and it would make me feel more complete.”
YOU WON THE TITLE LAST YEAR AS A YOUNGER DRIVER. THE AVERAGE AGE OF THE TOP-10 GUYS IS LIKE 36. DOES THE SPORT NEED MORE YOUTH? “The sport always needs more competition, it is a good thing. It is hard to say that more so now than before but I think new names and faces are never a bad thing. It is getting older and I don’t see a lot of turnover coming because I don’t see a significant crop of younger drivers that are better. There is the potential for guys like Kyle Larson but he is probably one in a very select group and I think it is probably less than three or four drivers I see being able to make it at this next level in the next decade. I don’t foresee the average age getting younger. I foresee it getting a lot older over the next decade.”
IS THAT A PROBLEM FOR THE SPORT? “I don’t know if it is a problem. I will let you figure that one out.”
