Carl Edwards, No. 60 Fastenal/Honoring Our Heroes Ford (Finished 2nd)
“We had a little trouble with the right front tire. Something in the fender wall. My guys are the best pit crew on pit road. They put me out front and it is just racing but man, this Fastenal Mustang was so good. I have to thank Ricky. He didn’t hold me up when I was coming there at the end. He let me at least have a shot at Kyle. Those guys earned it. They got faster all night. We had a little bit of trouble. It is like our car went away just a little bit.”
HOW GOOD WAS IT DURING THAT STRETCH THOUGH? “It was pretty good. I enjoyed that. I really had a good time. I have to thank Fastenal for them putting the Stiller Foundation on the car. What that does it it atones for quadriplegic folks that get hurt in battle over there. We have John Peck on the deck lid and we wanted to get this trophy really bad for you John. We gave it our best effort in your honor. Second place is nothing to be ashamed of. This car was so fast though; I wish we had one more caution to get a shot at them. Kyle did a really good job and we were racing clean and it was a really good night of racing.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 6 Fastenal/Honoring Our Heroes Ford (Finished 3rd)
“I felt like we had a little bit for Kyle there at the end. We started off really good and we were running him down but we just lost forward grip. We weren’t near as good as I think we have been in the past but we have Flight 93 on here and we want to remember all those in 9/11. It was a tragic day and I am glad we still have our freedom to come out here and race. It was a tough battle but I am really glad Nationwide is doing this Dash for Cash because it pays pretty good.”
Trevor Bayne, No. 16 Fastenal/Honoring Our Heroes Ford
“It is pretty stupid really because we had a fast car all day just like last week and we had a terrible pit stop put us back in the field where we shouldn’t be. I catch the 33 and the 2, three-tenths of a lap I run them down on the straight away. The 33 let the 2 go and then pulled down and started blocking me, I guess because the 2 is running for a championship or whatever but the 33 was blocking me and I was way faster and trying to race him clean. He catches the 38, who must have been mad at him; I don’t know what was going on. The 38 tried to wreck him and he stopped in front of me and crushed our hood. Then he chopped me again off the corner and checked up and it got him sideways and he just wrecked us. I don’t understand what the deal is or why he would race like that. Harvick is normally a way better racer than that. It is just frustrating when people do stuff like that and it is intentional. He let the 2 car go and intentionally blocked us to keep me from passing them both. It is frustrating when we had that good of a car and had that good of a day.”
DO YOU HAVE A HISTORY WITH HIM? “No, not at all. He has been a big help to me. Harvick has been great for me and that is why I don’t understand what went on tonight and why that had to happen.”
ARE YOU AWARE HARVICK AND LEFFLER HAD AN INCIDENT EARLIER? “Yeah, my spotter told me to watch out for those guys because they would be wrecking each other. I am more frustrated by the fact that he was blocking us. He can’t help what the 38 does but I hate that we got collected in it and then he wrecked us just intentionally down the back stretch after coming up in front of us and we got him sideways and he decided to turn left. Pretty frustrating.”
WILL YOU ASK HIM ABOUT IT? “Yeah, I will talk to him about it.”
DO YOU THINK HE WAS BLOCKING FOR SADLER? “Yeah, that is exactly what it is. He wants the 2 to win a championship but the 6 car is going to wear him out anyway hopefully. It is frustrating when people race like that when I am not even in points contention. I am out there just racing trying to win.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR. PRESS CONFERENCE
CONGRATULATIONS ON WINNING THE $100,000 DASH FOR THE CASH TONIGHT. “Thank you. I appreciate the media guys that stay. This room is empty now. It was a great race for us. We worked on it all night. We struggled a lot more than we expected to. We felt like the past couple of races here we had something that could win the race but we struggled with our Fastenal Mustang a little bit. Nationwide does an awesome job for us Nationwide regular guys and to win that Dash for Cash means a lot. Now we are up for it at Charlotte which is a really good race track for us to win it again. That was a great points day for us and all the Roush cars were fast. We have to keep doing this every week. We didn’t make mistakes tonight. I don’t think we had one area that we made a mistake in, other than not getting our race car where we needed it to be. Other than that, we have to stay positive. We have been running really well and go on to Chicago.”
YOU EXTENDED YOUR POINTS LEAD BUT YOU HAD KYLE AND CARL IN THERE. HOW FRUSTRATING IS IT TO TAKE THIRD, BEING FIRST IN CLASS IN A WAY. “It is definitely frustrating. I wanted to be a little more excited about winning that Dash for the Cash. Finishing third makes it tough to do that. For a second there I thought we had something for Kyle. It fired off good for 10 laps there on that last run and then just kind of gave up. We were a little too tight in the center and we were spinning tires up off. It is disappointing to finish third but then again it is good to be up there racing with those guys. They are champions and win a lot of these races so to be in contention to win is a good thing in this series.”
“Actually, last race here we felt like we were awesome everywhere. Tonight I just struggled. It didn’t matter really what we did, we just struggle through three and four and they beat us down the front straightaway. I would gain on them in one and two and then we were a little too tight in three and four. I would have to basically stop the car to get it to turn and go the other way. That is really what we struggled with all night.”
WHAT KIND OF THINGS PLAY A ROLE BETWEEN WHO MAKE THE RIGHT ADJUSTMENTS AND WHO MAKES THE WRONG ONES? “I think Carl and Kyle’s experience helps them out a lot in that situation. They can come in and tell their crew chiefs exactly what they need. Sometimes I think I struggle with that, telling them exactly what I need to make my car faster. Kyle made his better and he normally makes it better every pit stop it seems like. Carl was better at the beginning and was catching him at the end, he just ran out of time I think. I feel like we make ours a little better in the center part of the race and that second to last run was our best run. We stayed closest to the leader throughout that whole run, that last run. We just tried something to get a little bit extra and go after those guys and it just didn’t work for us.”
CARL EDWARDS PRESS CONFERENCE
TALK ABOUT HOW THE RACE UNFOLDED FOR YOU TONIGHT. “It started out spectacularly for us. We had a really great race car. As the race went on those other guys got their cars better and better and by the end it was going to be a battle if Kyle and I had started side by side. We had a tire get stuck on the fender I guess on the right front and the guys did a really good job only losing two or three spots with that. I just couldn’t get to them and by the time I was in second I had worked my tires over pretty badly and I needed a caution to get to start next to him again. Kyle and those guys definitely earned it. We didn’t give it to them. With a pit stop, they were going to be tough either way.”
THERE WERE FIVE CUP DRIVERS IN THIS RACE AND FOUR OF YOU ARE IN THE CHASE, SO IS THERE ANYTHING TO THE WHISPERS OF PEOPLE SAYING RUNNING BOTH IS A DISTRACTION? “I think it is tough for me to say because I can only speak from my perspective and for seven years I have been running both series and we have won tons of races in both of them and I have learned a lot. I do think there is a time in my career that I need to focus a little more on the Cup car and that is why I have decided to do that next year. Today is a great example of a really long day for a race car driver. We started in the race car at 9 am and just got out without much time in between. That can be really great for a young guy trying to learn and can also wear you down a little bit. In my case I think it has helped me a ton and I am excited to see if I can do even better though next season focusing on the Cup car.”
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