Carl Edwards grateful for his Sprint Cup lead – NASCAR news
Carl Edwards will consider himself fortunate as he finished in 5th place in the Hollywood Casino 400 at the Kansas Speedway on Sunday, October 9, 2011.
Edwards was a lap down to Jimmie Johnson at one stage but staged a remarkable comeback to finish in 5th place and take sole lead of the points in the Sprint Cup Championship.
Edwards knows that he is very luck to still be at the top of the points table and was full of praise for his team who worked to get him back on spot.
“I feel grateful. That was very, very bad at the beginning of that race, and I cannot thank my guys enough for sticking with it and working hard the whole day,” said Edwards. “I cannot believe we finished fifth. It feels like a win. That's the best we've
done with the worst.”
Edwards revealed that he and crew chief Bob Osborne had prepared the wrong setup and had used it in practice. He said that he realised his mistake as soon as the race started and it was great work by the team to make major adjustments to the setup during
the race to bring his car slightly back up to speed.
Edwards went through a similar race last time out at Dover, where he was hit with a pit-speeding penalty and dropped a lap down. He managed to come back and finished 3rd in the race. Edwards acknowledged that he had a couple of
lucky breaks and with a long season ahead, he cannot rely on luck to take him all the way.
“I feel like we've had two weeks with very lucky breaks, this week and last week, to be able to come back from a bad position on the racetrack,” said Edwards. “But there is still so much racing left.”
Looking ahead to Charlotte, Edwards was hoping they could avoid the mistakes they have made in the past two races as the track at Charlotte has not been very good to his team.
Edwards will be hoping for more luck in the Bank of America 500 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, which is scheduled for Saturday, October 15, 2011.
Tags: