Edwards hopes for better Martinsville run this time
By SceneDaily Staff
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Chris Graythen / Getty Images for NASCAR
Roush Fenway Racing’s Carl Edwards admits that Martinsville Speedway has been tough for him in recent years.
The driver has a top finish of 11th in seven Cup races at the track, but he’s optimistic he’ll do better in Sunday’s Goody’s Cool Orange
500.
So far, Edwards' season has resembled his Martinsville experiences – all over the place.
Edwards opened the year with a 19th-place finish at Daytona and then won the next two races before a mechanical failure relegated him to a 42nd-place finish. He then came back to finish 16th at Bristol, a run that has him 16th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings five races into the season.
He hopes to see both his overall performance and his Martinsville streak improve this weekend.
"Martinsville is a track that I’ve really had a tough time at over the years,” he said. “It's probably one of the toughest tracks for me in the Cup car, but I’m still really looking forward to the race. Track position is so important at Martinsville, if we can have a decent qualifying run, I think we’ll race well. “
Still, Edwards knows that anything is possible on the short track.
“A lot can happen in 500 laps at Martinsville, and things like pit strategy and tire management can make or break you,” he said.
Chris Andrews, who is filling in as Edwards' crew chief while Bob Osborne serves a six-race NASCAR suspension, says that it is misleading to just look at Edwards’ Martinsville finishes and make an assessment of the team.
“The No. 99 and all the Roush Fenway Racing teams have had a strong start to the season, and now we're returning to some of the tracks where we started to show progress with our [car of tomorrow] cars last fall,” Andrews said. “While Martinsville hasn’t been one of Carl’s strongest tracks statistically speaking, he has run well there but doesn’t seem to have the finishes to back that up. We’ll look to change that this time around.”
