Edwards Charges From The Back For An 11th Place Win
Winn-Dixie 250 presented by Oreo/Daytona, FL
Carl Edwards, No. 60 Aflac Ford Fusion
Started 19th / Finished 11th
Daytona, Fl. - July 7, 2007 - Carl Edwards and the No. 60 Aflac team experienced a rain-delay, which extended their weekend by a day. The race had to be run Saturday morning on the 2.5-mile speedway in Daytona. Edwards qualified 19th but had to start from the 41st position because of an engine change during the second practice for the Winn-Dixie 250. He climbed up on the wheel when the green flag dropped and charged his way from the rear of the field to the front. Edwards and the Aflac team flirted with the top-5 and top-10 for several laps, but had to finally settle for an 11th place under a green-white-checkered finish.
Edwards radioed crew chief Pierre Kuettel on lap 12 that the car felt like a tire was very soft and it was pushing in the center. When the NASCAR mandated competition yellow flag flew on lap 20, he had charged his way through over half the 42-car field to the 20th position. Edwards pitted for four tires, fuel and right rear wedge and air adjustments. The Aflac crew gave Edwards a flawless 14.76 second pit stop gaining him three spots when he resumed racing on lap 24.
On lap 51 the second caution flag flew when the No. 66 and 99 cars wrecked. Edwards pitted in the 21st position and his Aflac crew blistered off another flawless stop in 14.63 seconds gaining 10 positions placing him in 11th when he resumed racing on lap 56. On the very next lap Edwards broke into the top-10 for the first time and stayed up there in the front with the leaders over the next 38 laps.
On lap 98 with only two laps of competition remaining, the No. 42 of Juan Montoya spun and brought out the final caution, closing up the field and setting up a green-white-checkered finish. Edwards fought hard drafting at the end, but fell just short of a top-10 finish posting in 11th place.
"Our Aflac Ford Fusion was just tight all day. We came up from the back of the pack. The guys had great, great pit stops and we ended up coming home 11th. I think that's about as good as our car was there at the end. It just wouldn't turn well enough. It still was a lot of fun," commented Edwards.
Earlier this week NASCAR announced that the No. 60 team had been penalized 25 driver/owner points due to a rule violation discovered during post-race inspection last weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway. After the penalties Edwards still led the points standings by a whopping 784 point margin. Following the Winn-Dixie 250, Edwards and the No. 60 team netted an additional four point gain giving them a pretty impressive lead of 788 points over second place driver Kevin Harvick and 910 points ahead of third place driver David Reutimann in the overall NASCAR Busch Series points standings.
Next week Edwards travels close to home to Chicagoland Speedway. Edwards and the No. 60 team will be back in the Sharp Aquos colors next week. He doesn't have much experience in Chicago, but he has posted a 2nd and 4th place finish there in the Busch Series.
Roush Fenway Racing
Roush Fenway Racing is NASCAR's largest team operating 14 motorsports teams, five in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup with drivers Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and David Ragan; five in the Busch Series with Kenseth, Biffle, Edwards, McMurray, Ragan, Todd Kluever, Michel Jourdain Jr. and Danny O'Quinn Jr.; and three in the Craftsman Truck Series with Edwards, Peter Shepherd, Travis Kvapil, Erik Darnell and T.J. Bell; and one in the ARCA/REMAX Series with Colin Braun and Darnell. For more information on any of the Roush Fenway Racing teams, log onto www.RoushFenway.com. For sponsorship inquiries please contact Robin Johnson at 704.720.4645.
Contact: Randy Fuller, Roush Fenway Racing
704-720-4600 or rfuller@roushfenway.com
