Posts Tagged ‘brad keselowski’
Edwards Posts Another Strong Finish at Kansas
It may not be the finish that he wanted, but Carl Edwards will take his fifth place finish at Kansas Speedway as another strong run in his quest for the Nascar Sprint Cup championship. The #99 Aflac Ford Fusion was in seventh place as the green flag dropped. It took him 84 laps to take over the lead, which he held until a caution fell at lap 110. Kyle Busch exited the pits with the lead, with Edwards in second place. Edwards reported his car was too loose on that run, and he was not able to keep up with the leaders, falling back to 8th place. The team continued to adjust on the car, but then fuel strategy became the buzz words of the day with about 100 laps to go. The 99 pitted with 20 laps to go, getting fuel and two tires. Because other teams had pitted earlier, and were gambling to make it to the finish ahead of Edwards, he was left with the waiting game to see when or if any of the cars ahead would run out of gas. The #22 of Kurt Busch did run out at lap 259, leaving his teammate Brad Keselowski with the lead. Keselowski was able to extend his fuel to the finish line, with Dale Earnhardt, Jr coming in second and Denny Hamlin in third place. Jeff Gordon and Edwards rounded out the top 5.
Post race quote: “I really wanted to win and it is really hard to win here,” Edwards said. “Today was a little bit extra difficult because the track was changing a lot. The first third of the race and even the first half our Aflac Ford Fusion was superior. It was great. Bob and I didn’t change the car enough to keep up with the conditions. We had a restart and I went backwards in a hurry and I thought we had to really gather it up. We did that and made it up to fifth. I had a good time though. It is a fun race track and it is my new favorite race track. When it is hot and slick like this you can slide the cars around and run multiple grooves. It is a lot of fun and I like it.”
This fifth place finish was the 7th top five of the year, and the 10th top ten of 13 races. Edwards was able to extend his points lead in the standings to 40 points over Jimmie Johnson. The second place finish for Earnhardt Jr moves him one point behind Johnson in the standings. The series moves on to Pocono next week for the 5-Hour Energy 500 on Sunday, June 12th.
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.
Fan Editorial – Gateway Nationwide Event
There’s a lot of misinterpretation of Carl’s post-race comment about not apologizing.
Carl never said that he intentionally wrecked Brad. He would have been better advised, had he had the time to think about it, to explain that all he did was not lift or back off when Brad implemented his too-late slide job. Nobody has evidently taken the time to view the incident from all the views available and in super-slow motion, which is what NASCAR did immediately after the race.
The rest of the media are simply running their mouths based on what they think they saw, and then Carl’s “admission”.
Brad simply wrecked himself when Carl didn’t lift.
The thing that really PO’s me is that people that should know better (Like Dave Despain) are making comments about Carl “turning deliberately into Brad’s quarter panel. That never happened, and makes it obvious that they “saw” things that didn’t happen and didn’t bother to look further.
All Carl did was correct to his left when their bumpers came together. That “left turn” was completely limited to the back of the car until Brad went around. Carl’s fender damage was from driving through what was already debris on the track (the 22).
Carl could have lifted; he didn’t. …repeat of ‘dega last year.
It’s a fine line, but it’s not “intentionally taking him out”. It was simply intentionally choosing not to lose the race.
Carl didn’t, and shouldn’t apologize; he no reason to apologize for not choosing to lose.
If Brad was fast enough to have won the race off the corner, there wouldn’t have been any contact or opportunity for contact; it was an unsuccessful attempt to block, plain and simple.
Carl Edwards Diehard Fan,
Buz
