CARL EDWARDS, No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion – DID YOU HAVE TO BRUSH UP ON YOUR SPANISH GOING TO MEXICO CITY YESTERDAY? “Si senor. Buen dias mi amigos. That was really fun yesterday actually. I had a good time. The whole thing was an adventure. I requested to go to Mexico City because I had a blast there running the Nationwide races there a few years back and then for me I wanted to try to fly down there by myself and do all the logistics and everything. Cesna helped me a bunch and it was an adventure. Just to get in my plane and fly to Mexico City and to be able to actually get it done and everything was really fun for me.”
YOU HAVE THE BEST AVERAGE FINISH EVER IN THE CHASE IN 2001 AT 4.9. NOT TO BRING UP BAD MEMORIES BUT YOU DID THAT WITHOUT WINNING A RACE. PEOPLE ARE SAYING THAT COULD BE THE KEY TO WINNING THIS YEAR. “Yeah, of course. At the end of the day nobody knows how this is going to go. It could go any number of ways but I do believe that like Denny (Hamlin) pointed out last week the guys that points race here at the beginning, that is going to be important so that you don’t end up falling out of it but it really could come down to a must win situation especially when you get to Phoenix or something. If you take the eight top guys and split that in half, you might need some spectacular finishes to stay in the top of that heap. It will change not just race to race but green flag run to green flag run there will be a lot of stuff happening. You almost need some statisticians to help you figure out what you need to do.”
DO YOU REMEMBER MUCH ABOUT 2011 AND WHY YOUR TEAM WAS SO GOOD FOR THOSE 10 RACES? “I think that whole year we were very good. Bob Osborne was on his game and we were doing a really good job with our strategy and our pit stops and my restarts. We were fast enough that I could race right at the edge without making mistakes and perform pretty well. That what happens each year. Everything has to be working. You have to have fast enough cars, you can’t make mistakes, your strategy has to be perfect. You can’t have a loose wheel and you have to do that for 10 races. When it is needed, you have to be perfect with this format I believe.”
DO YOU THINK THE ROUSH GUYS CAN PICK IT UP ENOUGH TO CHALLENGE THE HENDRICK GUYS? “I think there are three reasons our team could do well. The first one is our pit crew. We are very good there and we won’t make mistakes there. I think we can beat people there. Jimmy Fennig is as good or better than any crew chief that has ever been on top of the box with calling a race. I believe my experience in the Chase and things I have gone through I think I will be able to do a really good job of not making mistakes on the race track. Those are three reasons we should think we are going to be good. The thing we need is more speed. If we can keep working the direction we are working. If three of four races in we are in the hunt and getting faster then I think we can be a real threat for the championship but we have to do all four of those things well.”
HAVE YOU WON RACES WITH JIMMY ON THE BOX THAT YOU THOUGH YOU DIDN’T DESERVE OR HE GOT YOU A BETTER FINISH THAN YOU DESERVED? “For sure. I tell Jimmy that all the time. I tell him that the reason we run so well, the reason we have a lot of those top-five and top-10 finishes and the win at Sonoma and the win at Bristol for that matter is because he makes the right calls. He never hurts us with his pit calls. He always helps us. Every single guy that sits on the pit box in the race is paid an exorbitant about of money because they are the best and for him to rise above the group and get a better finish than what we should says a lot about him.”
IS THERE A SEGMENT THAT BEST SUITS YOU OR IS TOUGHER THAN THE OTHERS? “I think Martinsville, Texas, Phoneix will be a good one for us. Martinsville has not been historically one of my best tracks but our short track program has stepped up. I feel like I am better Martinsville racer than I have ever been. Phoenix we feel like we can win that race. That stretch, if we are in it there I feel pretty good about our chances going to Homestead.”
DO YOU KNOW YOU NEED TO GET TO THAT SEGMENT? “Yeah, we know we might have to win Talladega because Kansas and Charlotte, if we don’t have out 1.5 mile program stepped up we will have to win Talladega to make it.”
IF YOU GET AN EARLY DNF IN THE FIRST RACE HYPOTHETICALLY IS IT AN ABSOLUTE THAT YOU HAVE TO THROW THE SINK AT IT OR IS THERE ROOM TO RECOVER? “I think a DNF in the Challenger Round when there is 16 guys there is still a chance you could recover and be in the top-12 of that group. I think DNF’s after that will be really hard to recover from.”
DO YOU THINK THERE IS MORE CHANCE FOR MOMENTUM? “Because they are three race segments I think momentum can shift quickly. You could have a guy that barely makes it through the first round that ends up as your champion just based one bad race at Chicago or New Hampshire or Dover. Guys, this thing is literally going to be like we finished one season and now we are going to have a three race season, three race season and three race season. Anything can happen. This could be shocking in the finish. There could be guys that are out of it right off the bat that go on to win four or five of the final races but aren’t in the hunt. It could go a number of ways.”
DO YOU GET THE FEELING THAT EVERYBODY IN YOUR SHOP FEELS THE SAME AS YOU ABOUT WANTING TO GET A CHAMPIONSHIP FOR THE 99 TEAM AND ROUSH BEFORE YOU LEAVE? “I have been really surprised in a good way with how little impact my announcement of leaving has made. With our day to day stuff and the meetings and way we work together at the race track it is like nothing has changed. I think that says a lot about the professionalism of Roush Fenway Racing. The only difference is they have more jokes for me. Robbie Reiser gives me a harder time but the work is there and the desire to win is there. All of my crew guys – we have all talked about it and everyone is all on board. I think with Jimmy Fennig announcing his retirement puts us all in the same boat. We know this year is the last year we will all be together so let’s make it a good one.”
SEEING JIMMIE JOHNSON AFTER THE RACE SATURDAY NIGHT, WAS THAT A STUNNER FOR YOU? “Jimmie is one of, if not the fittest guys in our sport and one of the fittest guys I know. That was an eye opener to see him have that trouble. What I was talking about with him was that when I got out of the car I felt that was physically a harder race than I had experienced in a long time. All the drivers were sitting down doing their interviews. Nobody was standing up. He had been prepping really hard for his triathlon and his blower in his helmet didn’t work and I think that all just added up for him. He shouldn’t feel bad about it. That was a really tough race and he just was in a bad spot. That is really at the end of the day, if you aren’t expecting that like I wasn’t expecting it, it can get you. I can’t speak for him but I think in his case he had been preparing so hard for that triathlon the next day that it caught him off guard. Go back and look at the pictures. Everyone was sitting down after that race. We all thought it was really tough.”
