Carl Edwards Advance
Bristol Motor Speedway
August 25th-27th, 2005 NEXTEL Cup Series
Sharpie 500, Saturday 7:30PM
Carl Edwards
Team: No.99 Office Depot Ford Taurus
Crew Chief: Bob Osborne
Chassis Number: RK-281 (damaged during qualifying in Bristol earlier this year)
Edwards on racing at Bristol Motor Speedway:
“Bristol is a tough track. This is an important race for the No. 99 team as far as the 'Chase' goes. We had a good week last week at Michigan and we need to have a solid run this week as well. I think it will be all about survival. Bristol and Richmond are definitely going to be the two toughest races for us as far as making the 'Chase' but I'm looking forward to the challenge, it will be fun.”
Crew Chief Bob Osborne on racing at Bristol Motor Speedway:
“Bristol is going to be a big challenge for the No. 99 team. There are a lot of elements that you can't control so we have to do the best we can at controlling what we can. I think we've had good race cars in the past but for one reason or another we get hung up in a wreck that ends our day early. I think Carl has matured a lot even since the spring race at Bristol and he's doing a much better job of points racing and that will help us tremendously. If we can survive Bristol and come away with a decent finish I think we stand a pretty good chance of making the 'Chase.’ That's our primary goal right now.”
Fast Facts
Currently Carl Edwards sits ninth in the overall NEXTEL Cup point standings with 2,758 points. He is 510 points out of first and only 129 points separates eighth place from 12th place. Heading into Michigan Edwards was just three points ahead of 11th position in 10th. Following his fourth place finish he gained in the points moving up one position to ninth, creating a 107 point spread between him and 11th place.
Edwards' best Bristol finish came last fall with a Truck Series victory in the No. 99 Superchips F-150.
RK-281 is the same car the No. 99 team took as their primary car to Bristol earlier this year. The car was damaged in a wreck during qualifying so the team was forced into the back-up car. Edwards looked to be a contender but was involved in an early race incident that required the team to replace a radiator. Edwards returned to the track in just 53 laps and drove to a 26th place finish.
