Auggie Vidovich to serve as Carl Edwards' backup driver if Nationwide schedule conflicts
CONCORD, N.C. – Auggie Vidovich will serve as Carl Edwards’ backup driver for the NASCAR Nationwide Series races that conflict with Edwards’ Sprint Cup duties, a Roush Fenway Racing spokesman said Saturday at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
The first of those races will be at Nashville Superspeedway in two weeks. The Nashville race is run on the same weekend as the Cup race at Pocono Raceway.
Edwards plans to race in the Nationwide events, but Vidovich will practice and qualify the Roush Fenway Ford when Edwards is unable to make it.
A backup for the other Cup driver running the full Nationwide schedule, Kyle Busch, has yet to be determined. Steve deSouza, who runs Joe Gibbs Racing’s Nationwide teams, said the team still needed to talk to Busch about his choices.
DeSouza said the team has two or three possible backups in mind, but a driver doesn’t have to be chosen until the week before Nashville, at the latest.
The Nationwide Series has six races remaining that conflict in some way with the Cup schedule: Nashville on June 6, Kentucky Speedway on June 13, The Milwaukee Mile on June 20, O’Reilly Raceway Park on July 25, Iowa Speedway on Aug. 1, and Memphis Motorsports Park on Oct. 25.
