| | | | | |  | | CIA Stock Photo | Carl Edwards desperately wanted to get around Kyle Busch. | | | | SECOND WILL DO | Edwards happy with second, despite tough start | |
| | SceneDaily Staff Carl Edwards desperately wanted to get around Kyle Busch.
The Roush Fenway Racing driver led the series with three NASCAR Sprint Cup wins this season and was hunting his fourth Saturday night at Darlington Raceway.
Instead, he settled for second – and watched as Busch tied his top mark of three wins for the season. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver went on to win the race and continue his hold on the lead in the series standings. Edwards, meanwhile, climbed three spots to seventh overall.
“Any time you see somebody running that well, that Gibbs bunch is running really well and you want to beat ‘em,” Edwards said. “A lot of times this year we’ve had some good battles and they do a great job, so my hat’s off to ‘em. They earned this win, that’s for sure.”
Still, while he obviously would have enjoyed the win, Edwards had nothing but good things to say about his team. Especially after it had such a rough start to the weekend.
When the team took to the track for the opening practice session Thursday, Edwards didn’t appear to be headed toward a top finish. He struggled on the newly paved surface, trying to get a handle on it.
“First of all, I’m definitely disappointed to finish second and not win the thing, but our whole crew did a great job,” he said. “I mean, we were 43rd on the sheet when we came here the first practice.
“I was down in the dumps. I was feeling terrible. I didn’t like the new surface and I was frustrated. To come out of here with a second-place finish … and beat the rest of the field, that’s pretty good from where we came from coming here, so I’m very proud of my guys for rebounding on pit road.”
He admitted that he’s not so frustrated with the track surface now. Edwards said that he still likes competing on the 1.366-mile oval –
particularly since it is a place where the man behind the wheel has more control of his outcome than at some other venues.
He thinks that racing at Darlington will only improve with this new pavement.
“I like this track and the reason I like it so much is because it seems like the driver can make a pretty big difference,” he said. “I was a little nervous about the surface because I felt like that took a little bit of it away, but I still felt like you could make some things happen out there and I think with some age it’ll be just the same.
“It’s still my favorite race track. I’m real excited about getting a little age on the surface though because it was great before they put this surface on. I hope it gets there.”
| | Posted May 11, 2008 , 6:24 pm EST
Last Updated May 12, 2008 , 9:56 pm EST | | | | | | | | | | |
