Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
AAA 400 Advance – Dover International Speedway
Friday, September 26, 2014
Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion, comes into the weekend ninth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Challenger Round and is eight points ahead of Denny Hamlin and Greg Biffle, who are the first two drivers currently on the outside looking in. Edwards spoke about his status after Friday’s practice session at Dover International Speedway.
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion – “The pressure is definitely on. Of all the tracks we could come to and have this race this is probably the most dangerous for everyone. It’s hard on everything. It’s hard on the engines, the drivers, the cars. It’s easy to get caught up in a wreck and for that reason there is a lot of anxiety down there in the garage, but, for us, it’s a great race track. I love racing here and hopefully we can just have a good, solid run and move on to the next round.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE RULES PACKAGE FOR 2015? “I think that as long as we can continue in the direction of less downforce, less aero dependence that the racing will just get better and it will be more fun for everyone. I’m glad NASCAR has taken a little bit of the spoiler away. At the end of the day, the way it was explained to me, the engine move had to be made and the way I understand it we’re gonna basically overall with the engine, the horsepower removed and the small amount of downforce that they removed will be about where we’re at right now, and that NASCAR is looking at more and more downforce and aero dependence being taken away for the future, which that’s really exciting for me. They know where I stand. You guys know where I stand. If it were up to me, there would be no downforce, no sideforce and we’d just race stock cars. As long as we’re headed that way I’m happy.”
HOW WILL NO TESTING IMPACT YOU NEXT YEAR? “At the end of the day I think the no testing is a great move. It’s all the same for everyone. If we test a ton or if we test none. There will be a little bit of difference in my situation just because I won’t get an opportunity to work with those guys, but we’ll work all that out. Especially with the format the way the championship is now, I don’t feel like that should be too much trouble to get going even if it takes us a race or two.”
DO YOU THINK THE CHANGES WILL BE A HINDRENCE TO THE GIBBS CARS? “I haven’t really thought much about that. My focus is to win the championship this year for Jack and the Fastenal Ford. When this year is over, I’ll start working on next season. That’s how I’ve done things my whole career. Whether I’m changing teams or changing series, I try really hard to focus on what I’m doing now because as soon as you take that focus away, the opportunity for people to take advantage of you is right there, so, for me, I haven’t thought about that.”
WITH NO TESTING AND NO PRESEASON THUNDER WILL IT FEEL LIKE MORE OF AN OFF-SEASON? HAVE YOU MADE ANY VACATION PLANS? “Who knows? We’ve had some pretty good off-season adventures around the world and people have started asking me if we’re gonna do another one. I haven’t planned anything yet, but I think it is good, and not really for the drivers. We’ve got it really easy compared to basically everyone else in this sport. For the guys, I can tell how excited they are to hopefully have a little bit more time with their families and time at home. I think NASCAR is making a great move there. Instead of just going to Daytona and doing the same thing that we’ve done, they’ve talked a little bit about going and doing something kind of like our Chase Across North America, which, for me, was a blast and I think everybody had a good time with that. I don’t think there’s a downside at all to less testing and less time on the track at Daytona.”
