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Edwards apologizes, vows to be a better teammate
By Rea White
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
KEVIN C. COX / GETTY IMAGES
Carl Edwards apologized Tuesday for his actions following Sunday's race at Martinsville Speedway, saying he was wrong to show his anger toward Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth.
Edwards was caught on videotape confronting his teammate in a heated exchange and raising his arm and making a fist, after the two banged fenders in the Subway 500.
Edwards said on a NASCAR teleconference that trouble has been brewing between the pair for a while and that it's probably been six months since they've had a conversation.
Now, he wants to change all of that. Edwards is hoping that he and his Roush Fenway teammates can do a better job of having a "team spirit," and he says he plans to do his best to communicate better not only with Kenseth, but with all his Roush Fenway teammates.
Edwards took full blame for his actions, pledged to get to know his teammates better and analyzed what could have brought on this type of display. He added that he would take the first step toward mending fences.
"I think I can definitely do a better job of showing guys like Matt respect and digging and finding out exactly what they need from me, and I think we can all do a better job of that," he said.
Edwards admits that he and Kenseth, the 2003 series champion, are completely different people who are also each extremely competitive.
They are also, in Edwards' estimation, teammates who do not really know one another at all.
"Matt Kenseth and I have not spoken - I don't believe Matt's voluntarily said two sentences to me in the last six months," Edwards said. "That's just how it is. We just don't talk a lot. We don't know one another well enough, and it's my opinion that's what precipitated this stuff is that lack of communication. If it's unreconcilable, it won't be because I'm not trying. I'm ready to do whatever it takes to understand Matt and be good teammates so we can enjoy the success that the people that are doing that are enjoying right now."
Edwards said he did not plan to confront Kenseth after the race. He referred to the meeting as a "worst-case scenario." During the race, his alternator quit after 195 laps, and Edwards turned off his fans, causing him to breathe in fumes the remainder of the race. Then he ran into Kenseth's door in Turn 1 - Edwards said he was trying to slow his car and didn't - and then Kenseth rear-ended him in the next turn in a move that Edwards admits made him mad.
He was thinking about all of this and suffering from a massive headache when he headed out of the track - and ran into Kenseth preparing to do a television interview. Things escalated from there.
"[I was] just thinking about the whole, the way that things have been going," he said. "The current state, maybe not today, but Sunday the way things had stacked up for the previous month and maybe even the previous six months, the way things are between Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards as I understand them, are we both had a short fuse for one another. Anything that I did to frustrate him or make him mad he was going to react to without giving me the benefit of the doubt, and I was going to do the same thing, and I think that is the problem.
"After the [on-track] deal happened, we did talk on the radio a little bit, but there was a bigger problem there, and that's where the frustration came from."
Edwards said he'd like to be able to blame the fume inhalation for creating the incident but doesn't think it played a role in it, nor would he blame it on the pressure of the Chase.
Instead, he took responsibility and faced the issue while announcing his plans to do all he can to make things better at Roush Fenway.
"I definitely feel bad it came to what it did," he said. "I feel bad for what I did, and I ... hope we can come together and make it better."
Mentioned Drivers: Carl Edwards
2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings
Driver Standings after the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 6492 |
| 2 | Mark Martin | -108 |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | -169 |
| 4 | Kurt Busch | -211 |
| 5 | Tony Stewart | -285 |
| 6 | Juan Pablo Montoya | -289 |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | -321 |
| 8 | Denny Hamlin | -352 |
| 9 | Ryan Newman | -411 |
| 10 | Kasey Kahne | -476 |
| 11 | Carl Edwards | -520 |
| 12 | Brian Vickers | -666 |
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