Carl Edwards
Lowe's Motor Speedway
1.5-mile speedway located in Concord, N.C.
NSCS: Saturday, May 17, 2008
FAST FACTS:
Carl Edwards will make his third start in the All-Star race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway this weekend. In his previous two starts, Edwards has one top-five finish. He has an average starting position of 10th, and an average finishing position of 9.5.
Nine times in the previous 23 All-Star races, the winning driver has gone on to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship. Edwards hopes to become the 10th driver to accomplish this feat in 2008.
Roush Fenway Racing has won three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star races. Mark Martin won the event in 1998 and 2005, and Matt Kenseth took the checkered flag in the 2004 running.
Edwards will carry the red and black colors of Office Depot this Saturday night. Office Depot store #2117 from Lufkin, Texas is the weekly sales winner and will ride along with Edwards this weekend at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
The No. 99 Office Depot crew will participate in the annual NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge on Thursday night, May 15 at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte. The event gets underway at 7 p.m. and will be aired at 9 p.m. that evening on SPEED.
Edwards will play a matchmaker of sorts this weekend when the rear panel of his No. 99 Office Depot Ford features a special message from the winner of the Harlequin and Office Depot "Say Yes to a Winning Proposal" national contest. The contest, which launched on Valentine's Day, required entrants to explain - in 50 words or less - why their marriage proposal should appear on the Office Depot car at the 2008 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and what winning the contest would mean to them. Edwards will unveil the winning proposal on the back of his No. 99 Office Depot Ford during an 11:30 a.m. press briefing on Friday, May 16, in the Time Warner Media Center at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Carl Edwards – NSCS ADVANCE
Team: No. 99 Office Depot Fusion
Crew Chief: Bob Osborne
Chassis: RK-570 Last outing: Texas Motor Speedway, April ’08 – finished first
Also: Debuted at Atlanta, led 33 laps before the engine expired
Carl Edwards on racing in the Sprint All-Star Challenge:
"The All-Star race is such an awesome experience. I’m really looking forward to Saturday night, and I know we’ll have a strong Office Depot Fusion for the race. It will be a lot like Saturday night dirt track racing with the format the way it is. Everything is a sprint to the end and you go 100 percent every lap and that's going to be fun."
Crew Chief Bob Osborne on racing in the Sprint All-Star Challenge:
“Racing at Charlotte is always fun. It's nice to be at our home track. The smooth surface and high speeds make it a challenge and I am looking forward to it. Our Office Depot team has been one of the strongest on the mile-and-a-half tracks this year, and we look forward to continuing that this weekend.”
