Roush Fenway Racing hopes to keep Carl Edwards - Racing Update
Roush Fenway Racing hopes to keep Carl Edwards under their contract for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, as they have completely turned their focus after Greg Biffle’s deal.
The Sprint Cup points’ leader Edwards currently drives No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion for RFR. He has been with the team since he started his Sprint Cup career. Carl signed his current contract with RFR in May, 2008, which is currently about to expire.
The RFR team has also renewed their contract with No. 16 driver Greg Biffle last weekend and held a press conference at the Talladega Superspeedway before the Sprint Cup race. After hiring Biffle, they also want to keep their other drivers. Now their complete
focus is towards Edward, who is one of the top drivers these days.
The RFR president Steve Newmark said on Sunday that he is auspicious to sign the deal with Edwards, who is considered as the biggest free agent in NASCAR market. He expressed his hope that they will finalise it before mid-summer.
"My hope would be before that," said Newmark. "I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll be able to get something done. I think it's the right fit for Carl, Roush Fenway and for Carl's sponsors."
The No. 99 driver recently accepted that negotiations are there but on the hindsight, he just wanted to completely focus on racing. He does not want to disrupt the momentum that he has gained with his career best start. Newmark also said that they are in
continuous talks.
"Carl and I, we have constant dialogue about it," Newmark said. "Clearly our main focus is to have Carl continue to run for the championship. At the same time it's the nature of the business and you have to do a lot of this stuff in parallel."
Edward is now free agent and can talk to other teams. It is also said that he has recently visited Joe Gibbs Racing for the purpose, as the team is expected to expand for the fourth team. However, most of his team-mates believe that he will remain with RFR,
as Biffle expressed during the press conference.
Newmark further expressed that restricting with Edwards is just for purpose that they want to maintain continuity. At RFR, they have understood that continuity is something really important in racing, and consider resigning Edwards as their first step in
the process.
The 31-year-old racer, with his phenomenal performance in the start of the season, is currently leading the standings table. This season he is in a strong position to end as champion, so far he has won one race, four top-fives, and six top-ten finishes after
competing in all the races.
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