WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE FEATURING CARL EDWARDS, JACK ROUSH AND MIKE BEAM
JACK, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE MEANING OF THIS WIN TONIGHT? “It is really great to be here. God bless Texas, we enjoy every time we have a chance to come race at Texas. I wasn’t aware we have won that many times here. I knew we had seven wins in the Cup side but didn’t know how many Nationwide and Truck wins we have had here. It feels good being back here. We didn’t have the year we hoped to have last year. We didn’t put him in equipment that was as fast as he was. I think we are getting closer on that now. We made a move of the team into the Cup compound so that they can share information and that has been useful. We got the new FR9 engine and we are real proud of these Mustangs.”
CARL, WHAT DOES THIS NIGHT MEAN TO YOU? “This is a huge night for Mustang and Ford and this is a true team effort. A year ago we were struggling. We were not fast enough and Jack and all the guys at the shop, the engineers, Doug Yates and everyone pulled together. We have great engines now and great pit stops and Mike Beam puts the fastest car on the race track underneath me every week and Jack lets us go do all this. The pole today we talked about that pole run being a true team effort. Mike was adjusting while Jason was telling me the line and Jack was telling me what Ricky said. It is a good day. It ended the way you wish every race would. Teamwork led us to victory lane.”
MIKE, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE INCIDENT ON THE TRACK AND WHAT YOU WERE THINKING? “I couldn’t really see it but a photographer took a picture and I could see a close up of the brace hanging out of the left quarter panel and I thought it was broke off. I was really wanting to stop there and luckily it came to one to go and Carl made that call there and I am glad he did after it happened. I was concerned by that brace hanging out there but luckily it wrapped around. We were very fortunate. It shows the commitment of Ford and all our sponsors and Jack and Doug and everyone. It is great that we could pull this off. Especially putting this Mustang in victory lane for the first time in NASCAR.”
CARL, WHAT CAN YOU TAKE FROM THIS RACE THAT YOU COULD USE TOMORROW? “Our Fastenal Mustang actually handled quite a bit like the Aflac Fusion we will race tomorrow. They didn’t feel the same in practice but once I got in the race I felt it did feel a lot like my Cup car. I learned a bit about the race track and how it changes. I learned a little and was reminded where the race track had grip and where it had some bumps and the character of the race track. I think it will help me for tomorrow. I think there are a couple of really fast cars tomorrow and it is hard to say who has the advantage because nobody has practiced racing in the night. I hope my car is as fast tomorrow as this one was tonight. That is really fun to drive a car that is that fast.”
CARL, HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK KYLE BUSCH WOULD HAVE BEEN A CHALLENGE FOR YOU IF HE DIDN’T HAVE THAT ACCIDENT? “I think he would have been a real tough challenge. Our car got a little better as we went but it looked like we were pretty well matched. I think he and I were going to race real hard. I was able to get in front of him on that restart which was huge. That says a lot about our engines. He was right behind me and we were passing that car and just by sheer luck behind me the car ended up missing us and caught him instead. That could have gone either way. I would have rather raced him for the victory though and I think it would have been a great race but I think or car was a tick faster.”
HOW ABOUT WITH SIX TO GO WHEN BRAD WAS CLOSING IN. YOU CAME ON THE RADIO AND SAID ‘THAT WASN’T VERY SPORTY’, WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY THAT? “His teammate did a perfect job of sliding right up in front of me and boxing me in. I think he had the option and made the decision to go ahead and make me swerve to go under him. That might not be the case but it sure seemed awfully suspect that his teammate almost helped him get past me. That is okay though. That is racing. I will remember it (laughter). I am kind of joking around. I don’t really care. He got loose and it was 50/50 in my eyes. It was convenient though. Jack would probably like Ricky to do that for me. He ain’t saying anything (laughter).”
CARL, HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THE GUY THAT PUT MUSTANG IN VICTORY LANE FOR THE FIRST TIME? “It is an honor to put Mustang in victory lane. I think all of us are proud of that and everyone at the shop should be proud too. Those cars look really cool. That was neat of Ford to let us drive the Mustang. When I walk into the garage and see my Fastenal Mustang it gets my blood going. It is cool to drive that race car. I drive a Mustang on the street and the weather has been nice the last couple of weeks in Missouri and I have been driving it. It is neat to be able to drive the same car into victory lane. It is cool.”
JACK, WHAT ABOUT DAVID RAGAN WINNING THE POLE ON THE CUP SIDE? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR HIM? “I would like to say David has been an instant success but it has taken him a little while. He has been running well and has been fast in practice. Drew Blickensderfer has done a really nice job. I am glad that they were able to close the deal today. Carl came up to me after that happened and congratulated me for David as well. The whole team is behind David and we are hoping he can have the kind of result that his qualifying indicates tomorrow night. We are ready for David to close one of these big deals and tomorrow night may be the night.”
CARL, WHERE IS YOUR CONFIDENCE GOING INTO TOMORROW NIGHT? “It is really high right now, on both the Nationwide and Cup side. We talked about Martinsville and that was not a good race for us but other Ford guys were really fast. The way we qualified and practiced here I feel like we have a really good shot at running well and look forward to Richmond too. Darlington should be a fast race track for us too. It is good to be driving one of Jack’s Fords right now. It is fun.”
