CONCORD, N.C. – Despite being winless and 12th in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings, Carl Edwards is not giving up hope of making the 2012 Chase for the Sprint Cup. With five races remaining to make the Chase, he is as determined as ever to win races to earn a shot at the championship.
“We are going to every race with one purpose and that is to win that particular race,” Edwards said. “We watched last weekend. I got a front row seat to watch Jeff Gordon pull it off and do what needed to be done and that’s a motivator right there, to know that we can do this, it can be done, we just have to go out and race these next five races like they’re the most important races in the world – each one of them. I think we made a step towards that last weekend with a fast race car and being a little more aggressive. That last restart, it was frustrating we weren’t able to get up there like Jeff did. Hopefully, we can just go out here and have some fun and win a race or two. It would be a huge comeback for us and it would mean a lot.”
Edwards has won seven Cup races at three of the five remaining tracks before the Chase cut-off. He has wins at Michigan (two), Bristol (two) and Atlanta (three). Although he has not won at Richmond, he led 442 laps there including 206 laps in the spring race in May. This weekend at Watkins Glen might be Edwards’ most challenging race leading up to the Chase. It is only one of two tracks where he has never led a lap, Kentucky being the other track.
“Watkins Glen is a really fun race track,” Edwards said. “The first time I went there I backed the car into the fence before I completed a lap in practice, so I’ve come a long way as a driver. I feel good on these road courses and I enjoy them, and I know a lot of the fans like them as well. We’ve sat on the pole there, but never won a race there but we’ve run up front and challenged for the win a number of times.”
Edwards will get some extra seat time at the road course by competing in the Nationwide Series race on Saturday in the No. 60 Subway Ford Mustang before hitting the track on Sunday in his No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion. Saturday’s race will be televised live on ABC at 2:30pm ET, while Sunday’s event starts at 1pm ET on ESPN.
