Monthly Archives: May 2011
Entire Roush Fenway Organization firing on all eight
Remember last year? Yeah I am sure you can, just like me. It was dreadful, losing to the 18 car every weekend on the NASCAR Nationwide Series side, and not seeing a Roush Fenway Ford win a Sprint Cup Series event until August? If you are a Roush Fenway fan, you dreaded seeing the performance.
This year, however, totally different ball game. After seeing a very dominating performance from the 16 and 60 today in the Nationwide Series race, its clear to see that this team is on a roll. Kyle Busch had been a pest in the side of everyone at Roush Fenway at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the last two seasons in the Joe Gibbs Toyota’s. Now, with the new FR9 package under the hood of the Ford Mustangs in Nationwide, they can compete with the power of the Toyota engine that dominated them on the intermediate ovals since 2008. Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., have all won with the engine powerplant this season in their cars, and with the signs of Charlotte, Roush has more power to offer against Gibbs in Nationwide.
On the Sprint Cup side, Edwards has been nothing but spectacular in the 99 car. His win at Las Vegas and his million dollar dominance at Charlotte in the All Star race have given a great deal of relief for all of the fans. Matt Kenseth won at Dover, and even though it was in the Wood Brothers Ford, Trevor Bayne scored the season opener in Daytona. Edwards can recall when he first could feel the change coming around for Roush and Ford.
“I remember when I first saw it and that was Daytona last summer. The first time I really believed we were back was about 50 laps or 40 laps into the Phoenix Cup race this year,” said Edwards after his second place run in Charlotte on Saturday. Yes, we did crescendo with our performance all the way until Homestead last year and then I thought, ‘Man, I’m not gonna get too excited. I’ve got to go through a long winter here,’ and I was anxious to see how fast we would be when we got back to the race track in the spring and it’s picked up even better than it left off.”
I saw the glimpses of it at Daytona and then it took all the way until about Phoenix this year for me to really feel like, ‘Hey, we are back,’ and feel that confidence and that’s good. It feels like it’s here to stay. I hope it can last the rest of the season. That would be huge. Ten wins out of how many races, it can’t be too many, so that’s a very big percentage.”
The weekend of Dover, however, after Matt Kenseth scored his second win of the season; NASCAR took all four of the car manufacturers to the dyno. All tested within 1% of one another, while many, had been feeling the FR9 Ford packed more horse power than the other 3 engines. Many fans wondered last year on why Ford did not put the engine straight on the race track to race against the others. Now you know why. Ford did their homework before they brought this engine into the series and they’ve been very, very good. They have been very good on the 1.5 mile tracks, Edwards won at Las Vegas, Kenseth won at Texas, Edwards dominated at Darlington, and they have won at the one mile Dover track with Kenseth. These are places where aerodynamics play a part and some people feel now it is the cooling system on these cars that have given them advantage by adding more tape to the nose of the car.
We are fixing to be going into the very hot summer and there are some tracks on the schedule that are going to be very good for Roush.
- June 5 – Kansas Speedway
- June 12 – Pocono Raceway
- June 19 – Michigan Speedway
- July 9 - Kentucky Speedway
- July 30 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway
- August 7 – Pocono Raceway
- August 27 – Bristol Motor Speedway
- September 4 – Atlanta Motor Speedway
- September 10 – Richmond International Raceway
These are going to be very solidified dates for the Ford camp. Especially Roush Fenway Racing who has dominated some of the venues in the past, like Michigan where they have won more races than anyone else. With the new engine package and the aero advantage that it appears that they have, Roush could be going through a winning Summer.
Top Gear 300 Tops for Roush Fenway Racing
Carl Edwards and his Roush Fenway teammates continued their recent dominant streak by showing as the class of the field at the Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday. The starting lineup provided a glimpse of things to come as the three machines, all sponsored by Fastenal, were nose to tail on the inside row with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. in the 6 car on the pole, Carl Edwards in third and Matt Kenseth in the 16 car in fifth position. Kenseth was substituting for driver Trevor Bayne who has been out of the car due to illness. When the green flag fell, the three RFR Mustangs quickly drove to the front of the field. Stenhouse led the first 13 laps, Kenseth took the lead at lap 14 and Edwards took over at lap 17. Edwards ran strong all day, falling out of the top five only once. He lead a total of 63 laps in the race.
Roush Fenway Drivers led the field in the Top Gear 300 (Biran Czobat, USA autostock)
By the end of the race, Edwards was able to battle Matt Kenseth. The teammates swapped the lead back and forth before Edwards’ car got too tight to continue the battle. He was able to finish a strong second place to Kenseth, with Kyle Busch finishing third, last week’s winner Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. in fourth and Reed Sorensen in fifth place. The win was a one and done for Kenseth, as Trevor Bayne returns to his #16 team next week at Chicagoland Speedway. After the race, Edwards said “That was hard racing. Matt there at the end, he was better and he had the kid gloves on with me.”
Stenhouse moves up to second place in the driver standings, one point behind Elliot Sadler. Jack Roush’s #60 team stands third place in the owners’ points, 16 behind the#20 Joe Gibbs car.
Late race incident cost Edwards top-ten finish, points lead still gets an extension
Carl Edwards started the Coca-Cola 600 weekend off once again by appearing to be the car to beat when the opening practice showed him in second place. And just as he had in the Sprint All Star Challenge, Edwards started the 600-miler off just the same.
Edwards had qualified 3rd on Thursday afternoon, and quickly moved around the 43 of A.J. Allmindinger for 2nd place in the event. Edwards had then set his sights on the No. 2 of pole sitter Brad Keselowski andon lap 8 propelled himself by the Dodge. On lap 13, Edwards had reported to crew chief Bob Osborne a yellow light was blinking down the back straightaway at a certain point but didn’t know what it was. Edwards also reported to Osborne that the No. 99 Scotts EZ-Seed Ford Fusion was getting a little tight through the race run.
Carl Edwards passes Brad Keselowski for the race lead during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 29, 2011 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
On lap 46, teams made their first pit stops of the afternoon under green. The team did a minor adjustment on the car, and took four tires and fuel in 14 seconds, but lost the lead to the 43 team on pit road. However, Edwards wasted little time running the fellow Ford of Allmindinger down once again. By Lap 54, Edwards was still the fastest car on the track and passed the Allmindinger for the race lead. By lap 60, Edwards had been out front for 46 of the first 60 laps on the track.
On lap 76, a caution flag had fell for debris after Edwards had extended out to over a 5 second lead on the 43 car. On the second stop of the event, Edwards takes four tires, leaves in 13.8 seconds and drops back to 2nd, but slips back to fourth on the restart. Edwards remained up there until the next caution flag flew for the 47 car spinning out on the track on lap 100.
Edwards had complained again the car was too tight and Osborne made another small adjustment on the car. The team lost time in the pits, but Edwards still looked strong on the track. The race restarted on lap 103, he quickly worked his way back into the top-5, as many cars took only two tires to gain track position. Edwards was up into fourth place on lap 114, and trailed teammate Matt Kenseth by 2.8 seconds on the track. He then passed David Ragan on lap 117 for third place and remained around the same differential to Kenseth.
As the run progressed, Edwards was gaining on the 11 of Denny Hamlin and on lap 138 made the pass for the position as he was now trailing Kenseth by over 6 seconds on the track. Green flag stops had cycled through on lap 148 for Edwards and he was now over seven seconds behind his teammate. However, by lap 165, Edwards had cut into the 17 cars lead by more than two seconds.
Edwards had remained amongst the top-5 for much of the race but when teams decided to play strategy in the race, things began to change for the 99 car. He had battled his way back into 8th place when the final caution flag came on on lap on lap 397. However, instead of coming in for fuel, the team decided to stay out on the track for the position. When the race restarted, Kasey Kahne caused a huge mess that should have brought out the caution flag on the track but did not. Edwards was involved in the mess and it caused him to slip back from 7th to 16th in the Coca-Cola 600 running order.
Even with the 16th place finish, Edwards left Charlotte extending his points lead. He now holds a commanding 36 point advantage over Kevin Harvick going into the upcoming event at Kansas Speedway, his home track.
“We were great, but it was just a track position game,” Edwards said. “By chance, everything that we did ended up being bad for track position. We were loose at the wrong times and I made some moves out there that put us in some spots that set us back, but that’s racing. I thought there at the end with all the fuel I saved that we were going to be in a really good spot, but somebody ran out of fuel on the restart and everybody just clobbered everyone. I think if we would have had a chance to race for it, we would have been looking pretty good.
“This is a neat race. I really like running it. At the end of the day, the guys we’re racing in the points had worse luck than we did and that’s racing.”
Edwards Follows All Star Win With Runnerup Finish in Iowa
One day after winning the Sprint Cup All Star Race, Carl Edwards traveled to the Iowa Speedway to compete in the Nationwide Series John Deere Dealers 250. He followed the win on Saturday evening in Concord, NC by finishing second to Roush Fenway Racing teammate Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Not a bad weekend. Edwards started fourth after qualifying was rained out, and positions were set by practice times. As the race started, Edwards’ #60 Polaris Mustang started loosing spots slowly, and by lap 68 was battling an ill-handling car. He slid high on the track, but maintained control and no caution was thrown.
No one car dominated in this race as there were seven different leaders, with Reed Sorenson captured the most laps wed with 77. There were only five cautions, including the mandatory caution at lap 50. By lap 131, crew chief Mike Beam was able to adjust the car to Edwards’ liking, and he was able to take the lead briefly. He continued to battle in the top 5 until lap 175, when he took the lead again by passing Stenhouse Jr. The Roushkateers had a spirited battle back and forth for the next 20 laps, before Stenhouse was able to take the lead for good on lap 232. Following Stenhouse across the finish line were Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Reed Sorenson and Elliot Sadler.
After the race, Edwards said that he thought he had the car to win the race, but asked for some adjustments he “probably shouldn’t have.” He added,”I really like racing here. It’s just about the perfect track.”
The win was the first for Nationwide Series regular Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. who, just a year ago was battling to keep his ride. It also capped off a perfect weekend for car owner Jack Roush who swept the weekend with David Ragan winning the All Star Shootout, Greg Biffle winning the first segment of the All Star Race, and Carl Edwards winning the final 3 segments and the race.
Elliot Sadler now leads in the standings with Reed Sorenson seven points back, and Stenhouse in third just 8 points off the lead. The series heads to the Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Top Gear 300 on Saturday, May 28th.
Edwards and RFR: A Defined winning combination
It was in January of 2002 that Carl Edwards found out he had that chance to step up to the plate and race for a real “high-profile” race team. Jack Roush had called him to drive the No. 99 Ford F-150 in the upcoming 2003 season after Kyle Busch had departed to race for Hendrick Motorsports. There are two situations that have come for Edwards like this at Roush Fenway Racing. His other big call came when Jeff Burton decided to leave in August of 2004 and go race for Richard Childress and the No. 99 Ford Taurus was left with no driver for the remainder of the season.
Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch appear to be a lasting rivalry on the track. Photo Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images
Edwards has yet to disappoint his car owner as he has done nothing but drive successfully. Now we are hearing all the chitter chatter being thrown in the air that Edwards is the hottest free agent out there. Jack Roush has been a smart business man through the years, and his most successful drivers haved stayed for long periods of time on the Sprint Cup circuit. In the remarkable runs Roush has had, he has put Mark Martin through his most successful times, Jeff Burton, won championships with Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch, had solid winning seasons from Biffle, but even Jack Roush said it “there’s only one Carl Edwards” Every team has its marquee driver, and in the last 6 seasons Roush Fenway has had Edwards holding the banner high.
Look at it this way, don’t look at all the numbers and statistics. Look at what he can do outside of the race car, Carl Edwards handles himself with pride when he gets in front of the camera for an interview. Unlike many drivers in the sport when in an interview you will see the sun glasses go off his eyes and he takes every interview with pride and performance. On the race track, many have compared his driving style to that of Hall of Famer David Pearson; with his stealth like approach while racing. Edwards has shown it this season that he is very focused on winning a championship and last Saturday night was a performance night that showed this team is set to win a title.
So now lets get down to the book. Who wouldn’t be interested in this driver? He is a “rock star” as Roush has put it, and in all rights deserves to be the lead driver for an operation and at Roush he is. Yes, his contract should be a top priority for RFR to take care of, but even the driver and owner both agreed that Carl Edwards and his team need to focus on winning a title.
“Carl is a rock star,” Roush said after the win. “He’s the only backflipper in the field and was the first one to crawl up in the stands. Some of the drivers wouldn’t go up in the stands like that after a race, and for good reason, but Carl is well thought of and he’s out there doing things that other people wish they had thought of first, and he drives the hell out of our race cars. He is a cornerstone of our organization today. He is certainly a draw for sponsors, and he’s a rallying point for his team.
And it just isn’t Roush Fenway Racing that Edwards is the marquee man for. Ford Racing holds a big part of what could happen in the near future with this organization, as Roush is their top organization to compete in racing and in it, they know Edwards is their biggest ticket to success. You have to look at who are the other drivers that are racing Fords right now. Matt Kenseth, still winning races, while he is getting up in the late 30s, Biffle has hit his 40s and still winning races, David Ragan has yet to win a cup race, neither has A.J. Allmindinger and Marcos Ambrose have shown little signs of success.
The only major marketable guy that is left for Ford in the near future is sitting on the sidelines with a sickness that no one has been able to figure out – Trevor Bayne. So you can bet that Ford will play a part in getting Carl Edwards re-signed and get the driver what he wants.
“I think Carl said it best,” Roush said. “We’re trying to maintain the focus on keeping our season together. We want to put ourselves in the best situation we can to make a championship run, to be in the top 10 and then to make a championship run in the closing months of the year.
“It’s going on behind closed doors. With some accuracy I say I really don’t do the money and I try to stay out of the money part of it, but I will have to pay attention to this deal as it gets closer, but it’s not something we’re gonna debate or discuss in the public. It’s not a media issue, it’s a private business issue that’s ongoing.”
In the last 5 years, there has been no major challenge for the 48 team until this year. Carl Edwards, Bob Osborne and P.K. have had things flowing in the right direction to be a contender each week for the 48. Look at the numbers this season, 1 win, 6 top-fives, 9 top-tens, and 2 poles with $3,058,289 in winnings. That is something that you rarely see this early in the season, and now the hard work is showing up on the track.
And those that think Edwards needs to hurry and be re-signed need to remember that there is an off-week during the July month that could be when all is done
It’s all in the Duck: Edwards dominates the All-Star Race for the million
Carl Edwards had come close a couple times to bagging the big pot of cash in the Sprint All-Star race. This time there was nothing that went wrong to stop him from grabbing it as he dominated the night by winning 3 of the 4 segments and beating Kyle Busch to the finish line and … more »
5-Hour Energy 200 Recap: Edwards escapes the wrath of the Monster Mile
Edwards dominates at Dover for his third win in 2011
Carl Edwards started from the pole in the No. 60 Fastenal Ford Mustang due to weather causing the NASCAR officials to cancel qualifying and reverting back to the fastest times in practice. Edwards’ teammate Ricky Stenhouse shot by on the first lap of the race and quickly pulled away from Edwards and Clint Bowyer.
It wasn’t until lap 76, when the car of J.R. Fitzpatrick almost lost control right in front Clint Bowyer, that Edwards really showed how strong his No. 60 Fastenal Mustang was. Edwards quickly pulled out to over a second margin between himself and Bowyer. On lap 87, the next yellow flew for an accident involving the No. 23 of Alex Kennedy, who on the next lap tried coming up the track and ran into Edwards’ teammate Kevin Swindell who t-boned the 23. On lap 101, racing resumed and Edwards did quick work on Brad Keselowski for the race lead. By lap 125, Edwards was wrestling through lap traffic and Joey Logano was right on the No. 60′s back bumper.
On lap 140, Justin Allgaier made a hard crash into the wall and it appeared that rain was beginning to fall on the race track. NASCAR called all drivers to the pits and red flagged the event for the moisture on the track on lap 144 at 5:03 p.m. NASCAR dried the track, and at 5:25 the drivers were all called back to their cars, and the green flag was waved a few minutes later, on lap 149. Logano cleared Edwards on the restart and it appeared that he was maintaining the lead he had built up, until he got into heavy traffic.
With 14 laps remaining in the race, Edwards was able to clear Logano and get back in front and quickly pulled away. On lap 196, Michael Annet crashed on the back straightaway and brought out the seventh caution flag. Edwards came over the radio with a disappointing gesture. On lap 202, Edwards was able to get a great restart on Logano, however, another caution flag fell for Eric McClure’s car stalling on the track. Edwards was then riding around on the apron of the track, hoping to keep the fuel pressure up, and preparing himself for a restart against the 20 again.
When the race resumed, Edwards and Logano were battling side by side and when the two went to cross the start finish for the white, it had appeared the 60 had made contact with the 20, and it caused a huge reaction. However, after reviewing the replays, a different opinion came out that the 20 had gotten loose and there was no contact made between the two cars.
“Damn it — I didn’t mean to hit him,” Edwards radioed after the accident. “Is everybody all right?”
Since the two had crossed the line for the white, Edwards was declared the winner of the race.
It was the third win of the season for Carl Edwards and his second of the year on concrete, making it his seventh overall win on concrete, tying for the most between Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick.
“I’m just glad it worked out,” Edwards said after the race. “I’m glad that I didn’t hit him. I’m glad that everyone was OK. But that’s a product of what we do. When it comes down to it … this race track, we’re driving so hard here, and there’s so much grip, and you’re giving everything you can, and the cars are so close there at the end. …
“Obviously, Joey was racing as hard as he possibly could. I was racing as hard as I could. Man, that’s why they call it the Monster Mile.”
Showtime Southern 500 Recap
Carl Edwards began his weekend at Darlington with a strong showing in the only practice session and boosted it with a fourth run in Coors Light Qualifying. He was very confident when the race began at Darlington with the setup that crew chief Bob Osborne had provided.
Early in the race, he reported to Osborne that the car was tight. On lap 36, Osborne brought Edwards down pit road for the first time and the team decided on four tires and made a slight air pressure adjustment on the car. It was 23 laps later that Edwards came over the radio that it felt as if the left rear wheel was loosening. The problem proceeded to go away and Edwards continued to run amongst the top-five.
The second pit stop occurred on lap 74 and the team was able to get Edwards out of the pits wit a 14.6 second pit stop. On lap 114, Edwards took to the lead with little challenge from Kasey Kahne. It didn’t last long as the caution fell on lap 122 for debris. He cmae back to pit road on lap 123, and the team gave him a 15.2 second stop with little adjustments.
On lap 189, Carl Edwards recieved his first “Darlington Stripe” of the night, but it did little damage to the No. 99 Aflac Ford as he kept going after the leader. It was on lap 26, it was looking like Carl Edwards was going to be the man to beat at the endof the event. His Ford was very quick and he was putting distance between Kasey Kahne and himself. However, with 10 laps to go, a blown engine on Jeff Burton’s Chevrolet brought out the caution and Osborne decided to bring Edwards down for two right side tires. Three cars decided to stay out for track position and take a shot with old tires. Edwards restarted in fourth place behind Regan Smith, Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart.
He was able to get around the 2 and 14 very quickly. One last caution fell for a heavy crash by Clint Bowyer and Edwards had to restart 2nd. He was unable to get around the 78 of Smith and had to settle for second place, but extended his points lead out to 23 going to Dover International Speedway.
“I definitely underestimated that restart a little bit,” Edwards said. “I saw Regan spin his tires and I heard him pedaling a little and I thought, ‘Man, don’t beat him to the start-finish line’ because we’ve got such an advantage with these tires that I didn’t want to lose that way. So as soon as I started pedaling to stay even with him, Brad and him hooked up and they were gone, and then I was chasing. Man, I really felt like that was our race to win. We had a great lead that we earned all night and it was unfortunate we had that yellow. Regan is a heck of a guy. That’s NASCAR racing and as upset as I am to have lost that race, I’m happy for Regan and his accomplishment, but I’ll run that one back a few times in my head.”
Royal Purple 200
The famed Darlington Raceway held true to form this week with challenges abounding for new father Carl Edwards and his #60 Roush Fenway Racing team. Rainstorms washed out qualifying, so the lineup was set according to practice speeds. Kyle Busch sat on the pole, with Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne and Reed Sorenson earning the top five spots. By lap 2, Edwards made a power pass on the #18 car to take the lead. That was when the first hint troubles and oddities would strike the #60 Mustang. Carl reported his rear window braces had broken off at the top of the window. At lap 16, both Kahne and Busch passed Edwards. Edwards then reported a very stiff throttle pedal. He was able to move back up to P2 before the competition caution was called on lap 36.
Edwards continued a strong run until just past the halfway point, when he pitted under caution to take four tires and fuel. The plan was to race to the finish without further stops. The strategies were as varied as the teams in the race — four tires, two tires, no tires and several teams stayed out. Edwards found himself in the sixteenth spot. This put the 60 car in the midst of the big wreck involving Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola, Brian Scott, Mike Bliss, Ryan Truex and Kasey Kahne. The RFR team managed to stay on the lead lap while making repairs during the extended caution period. Even with a heavily damaged racecar, Carl fought his way back to the tenth spot but the hopes of salvaging a top ten finish faded until Carl hit the wall on lap 128.
The second half of the race was dominated by Kyle Busch who drove his #18 Toyota to his first Darlington victory. Busch was followed by Denny Hamlin, Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier and Steve Wallace. Edwards finished three laps down in 20th place. Teammates Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. finished in 10th place, and Chris Buescher (subbing for Trevor Bayne in the 16 car) survived a lap 45 crash to finish a respectable 17th place. Allgaier now holds a slim 5 point lead over Sadler in the points standings.
After the race, Edwards said, “We had a really fast race car, but they were all wrecking. I thought I had it missed and I just got caught in the right-rear. I tried my hardest to miss that, but there was nothing we could do. We got lucky it wasn’t torn up worse, and I thought we were still gonna end up with a top 10, but there was just nothing I could do about it. I blew the right-front or something and hit the fence again, but the guys did a good job.”
The team heads to Dover next Saturday for the 5-Hour Energy 200.
Contract nothing to talk about right now
Right now, Carl Edwards is the most coveted free agent on the circuit as his contract concludes at the end of the 2011 season. Edwards finished off the first quarter of the 2011 season with one win and riding momentum of seven top-ten finishes in 9 races this year. The media seems to be so worried each week when Edwards is going to be re-signing his contract that its becoming irritating.
“I don’t have any timetable, and, like I said at the beginning of the year, I don’t really like to talk about that stuff in the media,” he said. “I’ve been fortunate to be able to take care of it behind closed doors, but it’s all going well. We’re just working on it.”
I think when Edwards has the deal signed, he will speak about it. I have heard a lot of rumors from Edwards going to Gibbs, to him going over to Red Bull Racing. Right now I don’t see it happening but you never know. Edwards has been quiet about the contract and that is the appropriate way to handle the deal. His mind is staying focussed on what is going on at the track, which it needs to be at the moment.
However, what is worth talking about now is the birth of his son. Michael Edwards was born on Wednesday at 8 pounds and 6 ounces. A very healthy baby boy, and the proud father was happy to speak about the arrival of his new son.
It’s going great. It was amazing,” Carl Edwards said Friday at Darlington Raceway. “Kate is an amazing woman. We had a healthy young boy. His name is Michael Edwards and he’s doing great, so it’s just a great week. It was unreal. We had a lot of fun. Annie is really excited about her little brother. I don’t think she quite understands what is going on, but we’re all doing really well, so it’s good.”
