CARL EDWARDS – No. 60 Dish Network Ford Fusion (qualified 3rd)
YOUR LAP TIME WAS ALMOST A SECOND FASTER THAN YOUR LAST PRACTICE TIME. “Yeah, we didn’t make a qualifying run. We changed four springs. I’m just proud of the guys. The car was great. It was fun. ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE RACE? “Yeah, I am now after that lap. I’m feeling pretty good. I held it as wide open for as much as I could. I’d like to say it was wide open. I’m proud of my guys and the Dish Network Ford Fusion. We changed complete spring set-up. We did not get a practice qualifying run. That lap was something to be proud of for those guys [crew members]. It was a lot of fun.” WERE YOUR SURPRISED WITH THE SPEED SINCE YOU DID NOT HAVE A QUALIFYING RUN? “Yeah, definitely, surprised. That’s the fastest I’ve ever gone around here in a Busch car, that’s for sure. It sure felt fast. I hope it races well. These guys have been through a lot and have been working really hard. They haven’t gotten the finishes that they deserve. It will be great to do it for Dish Network, for Scott’s and these guys and the guys back at the shop.”
EDWARDS PRESS CONFERENCE:
TAKE US THROUGH YOUR QUALIFYING LAP. “We were not very fast in practice and we did not make a mock qualifying run. So I wasn’t really sure what was going to happen. The guys did a great job. I was telling my foot to stay down on the floor and it was close. I was almost able to hold it wide open. The guys just did a great job. I think if I could have gone again, I could have gone a tick faster. I think Reutimann laid down a pretty fast lap and I didn’t think we were going to contend with that. I’m really proud of my guys for making the adjustments and making the car fast.” DAVID REUTIMANN HAS MADE IT VERY DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO CLINCH THE BUSCH CHAMPIONSHIP. “Yeah, he’s doing a great job. As frustrating as Memphis was, I couldn’t be happier for someone to win a race. He’s an amazing guy who’s worked really hard. I’m really excited for his success lately. At the current rate, we won’t clinch it for a while. We’ve been having terrible luck. We had great luck at the beginning of the season and I guess this is the other side of that. We’ve had great cars but we just haven’t had finishes with wrecks and things like that.” TALK ABOUT YOUR BUSCH SEASON AND THE LATEST LUCK, DOES IT PUT A DAMPER ON THE CHAMPIONSHIP? “No, it doesn’t put a damper on the driver’s championship part of it. But for the guys, it sure is frustrating to not be leading the owner’s championship part of it. They way we’ve run, it’s been great. But it started in Kentucky, we got caught up on a restart leading the race and that was kind of the start of it. The guys have been doing all sorts of things to get the luck back. It just hasn’t work. It seemed like at the beginning of the season we were having a little bit of bad luck on the Cup side, but the Busch deal was going perfectly. It’s kind of flip-flopped, which is okay. I’m not saying I want to have bad luck on the Cup side, that’s been good. It’s just been amazing, we’ve been caught up in wrecks and the truck arms came out two different ways in two weeks at the road courses. It’s been amazing.” WHAT IS YOUR CHAMPIONSHIP CELEBRATION? “I don’t know. We’ve got to win it first. I don’t know. It will be so great to win a championship. The last championship I won was the Baby Grand Stock Car Association Championship in 2002 and before that I won a couple of track championships at my local dirt track. It’s a good feeling. I don’t know, man. I can do that back flip, that’s what I can do. That’s what I’ve got. If I try more, I’ll probably hurt myself.”
ROBBY GORDON – No. 55 Verizon Wireless Ford Fusion (qualified 7th)
“I was wide open both laps from the time I left pit lane. We unloaded off the truck real good with this Verizon Wireless Ford. I just wish my Cup car was this good this weekend. I was really happy the first couple of laps on the race track. I thought we had a shot at the pole. We tried here a couple of times in practice. The guys back home and the pit crew basically crews this car on the weekends. They did a wonderful job. I thought we had a little too much down force built in, but I think we’ll have a better race car than we did a qualifying car.”
STEPHEN LEICHT – No. 90 CitiFinancial Ford Fusion (qualified 19th)
“It’s tough going out as early as we did tonight for qualifying. Everybody else that qualifies after us will pick up time. But our CitiFinancial Ford Fusion was good. We have a really good race car. I’m not too worried about qualifying, I’m looking forward to the race.”
DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 Discount Tire Ford Fusion (qualified 8th)
“We weren’t trying to get the pole, but we had a good run. We knew going out early was going to hurt us a little bit. We ran an awesome lap and there are still a lot of guys that need to make their runs and they will go faster as the night cools off. A top-five or top-10 qualifying position will be okay. We’ll race with Carl [Edwards]. IT’S COOLER NOW THAN IT WILL BE FOR THE RACE, WILL THAT CHANGE YOUR CAR? “Hopefully not. We’ve got our changes that we’re going to do between now and race time incorporated with the weather. Hopefully our Discount Tire Ford will run well tomorrow. It wasn’t as aggressive as we could have been in qualifying, but we’re happy with the run. We’ll have a little more speed for the race.”
RAGAN PRESS CONFERENCE:
TELL US ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING LAP. “It was a pretty uneventful lap. I feel like we have a better race trim than qualifying trim and I didn’t expect to qualify as well as we did. It’s a nice top-10 and will be a good start for us tomorrow evening. Hopefully, we can contend for the win. We’ve been pretty close a few times this year including the spring race here. I feel like our team is ready to win. I’m certainly ready to win one of these things. Hopefully, we can keep working hard and get that first win tomorrow.” WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON RUNNING BOTH SERIES THIS YEAR? WILL YOU DO THE SAME NEXT YEAR? IS SEAT TIME THAT IMPORTANT? “Yes, seat time and different types of experience on race tracks. In the southeast, we ran about five or six tracks and that’s about all we got to see in a given year. And going to 20-25 different tracks through the year is really has been, not a challenge for me, but it’s been something that I really need to study. On different tracks, you can drive some hard and others you can’t drive as hard. I’ve learned a lot, seeing a lot of different things on any given weekend. Our performance so far this year has been okay, it hasn’t been as a great. A lot of people probably didn’t expect us to run as well as we have at certain times of the year. On the Busch side, we’re top five in points and I feel like we’ve got a chance to win a race if we do what we need to do on any given weekend. On the Cup side, we’ve had some good runs. We’ve had some runs that I’ve kind of like to forget about. Our seasons went okay. For next year we’re looking for bigger and better things. I think that our team coming back again on the Busch side and the Cup side we can challenge guys like Carl [Edwards] for a championship. And everyone’s goal on the Cup side is to make in the Chase. I feel like if we do what we need to do and I get better and our team gets better and we have better pit stops and everything we can contend for a spot in the Chase next year.”
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 59 Kingsford Ford Fusion (qualified 27th)
“We sacrificed a bit of qualifying speed to make sure we had a good race car for tomorrow. You have to make sure you are free enough to have a good car to last tomorrow’s race, so it makes qualifying a little tougher. The hope is that we will have a good race car tomorrow and this will not mean as much. We’d like to be higher than that but that’s the way it is, so we will push on tomorrow and see how we end up. The track feels very fast and it’s probably one of the fastest 1.5-mile tracks we go to all season. It’s a fast place and those corners are tough and can catch you out, so you’ve want your car to be good for the race and that’s what we’re hoping for.”
