Posts Tagged “#99”

RACE RECAP | HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY
10 Martin Truex Jr.
9 Tony Stewart in his final ride in the #20 car
8 Casey Mears
7 Travis Kvapil
6 Kasey Kahne
5 Clint Bowyer
4 Jeff Gordon was winless in 2008
3 Jamie McMurray with yet another top 5
2 Kevin Harvick also winless in 2008, came up 1 short

VICTORY LANE

1 Carl Edwards led the most laps and wins his 9th of the 2008 season, the most of any other driver.  Once again he needed to slow way down for a fuel mileage win with a 13 second lead on second place.  Even still, he came up short on the championship by 69 points.

Despite being nearly 200 points behind standings leader Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) with four races left, Carl Edwards (No. 99 Office Depot Ford) never gave up hope of winning his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. He spent his time at the track telling anybody who would listen that the battle would come down to the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Now, two races later, Edwards has done his best to back up his word. He won the last two races in rather convincing fashion and has cut Johnson’s lead in half with two races remaining.

The deficit is now 106 points heading into Phoenix International Raceway. Edwards sat on the pole for this race last year and led the first 87 laps before engine trouble knocked him out of the race. Johnson won the race to all but lock up his second championship.

Edwards’ back-to-back wins increased his season total to eight, tying him with Kyle Busch (No. 18 Pedigree Toyota) for the series lead. Johnson is second with six victories.

Carl Edwards

Carl Edwards nabbed victories in two different series – and two different states – this past weekend, further proving his NASCAR versatility.

His Memphis and Atlanta wins tightened a championship gap, as Edwards sits second in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the NASCAR Nationwide Series. His double duty performance this season is shaping up to be the best in NASCAR history. A driver has finished in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR Nationwide standings top 10 eight times, the first being Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet) in 2001. Edwards, who accomplished the feat in both 2005 and 2007, is a near-lock to do it again.

His ultimate goal, though, is not to finish in the top 10, but to win the championships.

Three races remain for Edwards to close triple-digit deficits to Jimmie Johnson in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Clint Bowyer in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Edwards’ biggest challenge is overtaking two-time defending champion Johnson, who holds a 183-point edge over Edwards.

The comeback is daunting, but not impossible. Edwards can turn to history for hope. The winner of the Atlanta race has followed up with a Texas win in each of the last three seasons. Earlier this season, Edwards made a points gain on Johnson of more than 183 points in three consecutive races. At Richmond, Darlington and Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Edwards scored a combined 454 points. During that stretch, Johnson scored 248 points – a difference of 206 points.

On trying to catch Chase leader Jimmie Johnson (Edwards is second in the standings): “The last couple of weeks, we have to go out and try to win all of these races, which we do normally. But at this point it’s pretty much all or nothing. We just go out to win. If we can catch Jimmie on a day where he has some trouble or something happens, we have to be there getting the most amount of points we can so that we can capitalize on that …

On trying to catch NASCAR Nationwide Series leader Clint Bowyer (Edwards is second and the defending champion): “It would just be a huge, huge accomplishment. You know, last week was a spectacular race for us. Everything went our way at Memphis in the Nationwide Series. And it’s the first time in a long time we’ve picked up a bunch of points on Clint, so that was definitely a pleasant surprise.
“We didn’t expect to go there and be able to close that many points on him. But I feel like if we do our jobs and we keep running like we’re running, you know, then we’re putting ourselves in the best position to, like I said, capitalize if Clint or Jimmie has any trouble …

On his appreciation for fan support during tough economic times: “You can’t get around the fact that right now are tough times. It just makes everybody more grateful for the fans that do decide to come spend their entertainment dollars and their shrinking discretionary income on auto racing.

“I think as long as we keep giving them the racing that we’ve been giving them, and we keep doing all the things that we’re doing on the racetrack to make it exciting, we’ll have fans. And, hopefully, we’ll get through this time and it won’t cost the sport anything that we can’t rebound from. …

On his friendship with University of Missouri head football coach Gary Pinkel: “He’s got a pretty tough schedule, and so do I. So we end up texting each other back and forth all the time. But I’ve been following him. He’s an inspiring guy. He’s an amazing person and a really great competitor …

On his recent engagement to his girlfriend, Kate: “I can’t believe I’m getting married, but I mean just if you asked me four years ago if I’d be proposing to someone I would have said, no way, but she just got me. She’s awesome. She couldn’t be any better. So I’m really excited about it. So it’s something that no one could have described to me, and I’m really, really pumped about spending my life with her.”

While Jimmie Johnson continues to pursue a championship, many factors loom at Texas Motor Speedway, where Roush Fenway Racing in general and Carl Edwards in particular have excelled.

Roush Fenway drivers have won six of the 15 NASCAR Sprint Cup events held at Texas, including the April race, which Edwards won.

Edwards has two wins, two top fives, two top 10s and one DNF (did not finish) in seven career starts at Texas. He claims the sixth-best pre-race Driver Rating (96.0) and is second in Fastest Laps Run with 177.

Biffle has one win, one top five, two top 10s and four DNFs in nine career starts there. His pre-race Driver Rating for Texas ranks 10th, at 88.8, but he’s second in Fastest Laps Run there with 178.

Former Roush Fenway driver Jeff Burton (No. 31 AT&T Mobility Chevrolet), fourth in the Chase and in his third season with Richard Childress Racing, has two wins, three top fives, seven top 10s and one DNF in 15 career starts at Texas.

He’s also the only driver with two wins there.

Edwards may be on a mini-roll. He won last Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway and also won Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Memphis. He has seven wins this season, trailing only Kyle Busch’s (No. 18 M&M’s Toyota) series high of eight.

And Edwards’ wins have come in bunches.

Twice, he’s won back-to-back races in 2008 — at Las Vegas and Atlanta in March, and at Michigan and Bristol in August.