Hard Work on Pit Road Earns Edwards a Top-15 Finish at Darlington
DARLINGTON, SC. (Apr.12, 2014) – Carl Edwards visited Darlington Raceway this week for the 11th time in his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career starting the day in 21st position. The Roush Fenway Racing driver battled with a car that was loose for most of the day and lacked any front grip as he ran in the middle of the pack for the majority of the 367 lap race. The crew worked diligently on pit road, making multiple adjustments during their 11 pit stops. Their hard work was rewarded with a 13th-place finish and Edwards remains third in the point standings.
Edwards began the Bojangles’ Southern 500 battling a car that was free in some places and tight in others. As the day progressed his Ford became loose all over and fell back to 26th before the first caution came out on lap 40. The team attempted a multitude of adjustments to correct these concerns only to be faced with a lack of front grip as more laps were logged. The team kept digging and was able to improve the balance as the evening went on.
As the race approached the halfway mark, Edwards fell a lap down but was able to work his way back up to secure the coveted “Lucky Dog” award when the yellow came out at lap 272. He would once again find himself a lap down with about 30 laps to go, and when a caution came out on lap 357 crew chief, Jimmy Fennig, made the call to stay out and take the wave around, placing Edwards in 18th with five to go.
The cautions kept coming, leading to two attempts at a green-white-checkered finish. On the final restart of the 500 mile race, Edwards would restart in the 15th spot, jumping up to 13th before the checkered waved.
Tune in two weeks from now as Edwards heads to Richmond International Raceway for the Toyota Owners 400 on Saturday, April 26th. Race coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET on FOX
