June 13, 2010
By Brenda Benedict
What's more important to NASCAR drivers-to win a race or to try to stay in the Top-12? Carl Edwards seemed very clear about his priority today during the weekly NASCAR press conference.
"If on Sunday we had to take a huge risk to try to win the race, or we could be guaranteed a third place finish, we would have to take the third place finish so that we can be in the Chase to try to win a championship. I don't want those types of choices, but that is where we are at."
NASCAR purists will wince at these words but that's the reality of racing. If you don't make the Chase, you can't win the Sprint Cup Championship and that's what counts.
Edwards talked about the FR 9 Ford engine that he is now running. The jury seems to be out on the engine. Edwards said, "Right now it (FR9) looks like it is as good as or better than the old engine."
Not a rousing endorsement but the truth will be in the product. As Edwards said, "The evidence is the performance."
Ford has a great history at Michigan International Speedway with 21 wins, the most of any manufacturer. The most recent was posted by Edwards in 2008 in the fall race. Edwards is struggling this year. After posting 9 wins in 2008, he was winless for 2009 and thus far in 2010.
Edwards feels that this year is going better than 2009 and says that this year "It's not terrible. I am not pleasantly surprised but not surprised the other way either.
Edwards took extra time with the press today. He arrived 15 minutes early for his scheduled press conference and stayed after answering questions from individual reporters. He seemed to be upfront with his frustrations about the lack of wins.
On a humorous note, Edwards was asked who wears the firesuit in his family. This was in reference to the firesuit comment made by Joey Logano about Kevin Harvick after the race at Pocono. DeLana Harvick has responded by designing a t-shirt sporting the words, "I wear the firesuit in my family." poking fun at Logano's statement in a good-natured way.
Edwards responded after taking a few seconds to measure his words. "I'm wearing it." Wise words for the newlywed Edwards. Can't argue with that.
"We're not going to settle for being as good as everyone, we want to be better."
Edwards is hopeful that his performance will improve as they get the FR 9 running better. "We are all hoping that in the next couple of months that we can gain 10 or 15 horsepower."
Winning races seems to be foremost on Edward's mind right now and even though he states that making the Chase is more important, it seems to really be a matter of pride that he has been winless since the Texas race of November 2008.
You can follow me at Twitter @nascarfaithful
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
