Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards comes home fifth in all-star race
Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards finished fifth in Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. // LaDon George, NASCAR Scene
CONCORD, N.C. – Carl Edwards had one of the best seats in the house for the final-segment showdown Saturday between his Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth and eventual NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race winner Tony Stewart of Stewart-Haas Racing.
Edwards struggled most of the night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway with the handling of his No. 99 Ford but came on strong in the final segment to finish fifth.
“First off, congratulations to Tony and his whole team,” Edwards said. “They’ve worked real hard, and it’s cool to see them succeed, but I was really cheering for Matt, though. I was back there running fifth just hoping Matt would bring it home.
“Our Fusion just wasn’t that great all night, but the last run we were actually pretty good passing people and moving to the front. I think we’ve got something to build on for the [Coca-Cola] 600, but I’d like to know what it feels like to be over there in victory lane at this all-star race sometime.”
Edwards said some spring rubbers fell out during an earlier pit stop, and when the team put them back in, the car handled better.
“My [car] was not real good for the first half of the race,” Edwards said. “We found some spring rubbers that fell out during that last stop, so they stuck those back in, and the thing was pretty fast and made it back up to fifth.”
Edwards also said progress was made for the team’s setup for next weekend’s 600-mile race at Charlotte.
“Oh, yeah, I learned tons of stuff,” Edwards said. “I learned lots of things and I really did have a good time there at the end. We just needed some more laps, and we won’t need more laps in the 600. There will be plenty.”
