Carl Edwards Qualifying Press Conference
TAKE US THROUGH YOUR RUN TODAY. “We were so close. That is cool for David though. If we had to be second to anyone in qualifying David would be the guy. Those guys have been working really hard. We didn’t plan on staying in race trim that whole first practice and at the end of practice all of those guys made qualifying runs and pushed us back to 15th and we thought we would be more like 5th or 6th. That is what sealed it for us to have that earlier qualifying draw. I think that kind of got us. I don’t know if even if I had gone when David went that I could run two-tenths faster. I think his car was the fastest car. He did a good job and our lap was good and this is going to be a good race tomorrow night. I am kind of excited to see that gun he won. At least with David getting the pole maybe I will get to shoot that thing sometime.”
YOU WENT OUT 15TH AND THE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM GOING IN WAS THE LATER YOU WOULD GO THE BETTER BUT YOUR TIME AND CLINT AND MATT’S HELD UP. DID THE TRACK THROW YOU A CURVE BALL? “I think the track was pretty tricky with the wind and the sun in three and four and shade in one and two. I think from when we went to when David went I don’t know if the track sped up a ton. I think it was just kind of tricky for everyone. I really think that the Nationwide qualifying helped me a little because I understood what was going on with the track. I don’t think if I went again that I could go any faster. I don’t know that I could run that fast.”
CLINT WASN’T REAL IMPRESSED WITH THE RESULTS AND SAYS HE DOESN’T LIKE THE WAY QUALIFYING IS SET UP NOW. DO YOU HAVE A FEELING ONE WAY OR ANOTHER? “If Clint was on the pole I bet he would have liked it (laughter). I know exactly where Clint is coming from. I was sitting there and hoping the thing hurried up because every second that goes by the track gets cooler. I think this is best for the fans. You listen to the crowd when David went by there. The crowd was excited to see that fast of a lap. I think it is exciting for everyone in the grandstands and nerve wracking for all of us in the garage. It is exciting to have the fast guys go later because every time someone goes out you get a new pole sitter which is exciting.”
RAGAN HAD A FAST CAR, HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THE FACT THAT HE WAS SO MUCH FASTER THAN THE REST OF YOU GUYS? “I am going to go figure that out. I am fortunate that I get to look at his set-up and everything he did. They approached it different than we did I think. His car was good. I watched his lap and the line he drove it looked like his car did exactly what he wanted it to do especially through one and two he was screaming fast. I don’t know exactly what he did differently but I didn’t expect that lap time. When Tony went out and ran his lap I thought that we would probably have this thing but that was spectacular what David did.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE DOMINATION OF ROUSH ON THESE 1.5 MILE TRACKS? “We got home from Martinsville and I was so frustrated about our race there and I looked at how well Matt ran and David ran pretty well. We always talk about the ups and downs in this sport and that was a bad weekend. We lost the points lead. But then I started thinking about how at Vegas we had the top three in qualifying and we were super fast in practice and I thought that we could come to Texas and see if we still had that and here we are. We are fast in practice and have three of the top four in qualifying that are Fords. We are as good now on the 1.5 mile, almost as good as we were in 2005 when we were lights out and won 15 total races or something like that. We are close to that form again and that is good.”
WHAT WENT WRONG IN MARTINSVILLE? “We qualified terribly. Bob and I totally messed up our pit strategy and had slow pit stops. It was bad. It was one of those races where I don’t think we did much right the whole day. I didn’t eat a hot dog. Maybe that is the deal. I keep saying I have to eat one of those hot dogs to go faster but I have never had one. I was going to eat one last weekend because they say that will turn your luck around but then I forgot and everyone told me not to eat one on race day morning.”
