11.04.2008
Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle Prepare for PhoenixCar News /
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion – ARE
YOU THE DRIVER TO BEAT THIS YEAR, OR IS IT TOO EARLY TO TELL? “It’s
awfully early in the season. Our Ford Fusions are so good right now
that it’s really a joy to drive them, but if there’s one thing that’s
certain this season, it’s there’s going to be change. Things are going
to happen throughout the season. People are going to change things, and
hopefully we can stay on top of that change and be just as fast at the
end as we are now.”
OTHER
DRIVERS ARE TALKING ABOUT YOU AND THAT THE 99 IS THE BEST CAR OUT THERE
RIGHT NOW. “I feel like I’ve got the best automobile out there right now, and
I’ve just got to drive it the best I can. The way it’s going so far, if
I do my job right and communicate to the guys, we’ve got a really fast
race car.”
HOW
SHOCKED WERE YOU WHEN YOU HEARD ABOUT THE AARON FIKE STORY? “I was
pretty shocked. I’m really grateful that Aaron said what he said and
laid that out on the table. I think it’s an eye-opener for me, for
sure, and I think it is for everybody. And for that, I’m grateful that
he was honest with everyone.”
SHOULD
THE SYSTEM BE STRENGTHENED? “I think that the fact that that happened,
the system has to be strengthened a little bit, obviously. And I’m sure
we will. That’s quite a big statement, a pretty amazing thing that he
said happened, and I think NASCAR recognizes that. That’s all there is
really to that.”
IN
YOUR CAREER, AT ANY LEVEL, DID YOU EVER THINK SOMEBODY YOU WERE RACING
WITH MIGHT HAVE A PROBLEM? “I never thought about that, particularly,
when I’m racing with people. We’ve all been out of control just because
we couldn’t do our jobs on a given day because of everything that is
going on. Honestly, I never thought about that. I just haven’t.”
SOME
QUALITY DRIVERS ARE STRUGGLING WITH THIS CAR. DOES THAT MAKE YOU THINK
THAT ALTHOUGH THINGS ARE GOING WELL FOR YOU KNOW, THAT COULD CHANGE?
“Listen, I’m well aware that it takes everything being perfect in these
cars to go fast, and we’ve got to stay on top of that because some of
the guys that are struggling, it’s not because of the way they’re
driving the cars, it’s because it’s something they haven’t got figured
out, and that could happen to us just as well. There have been a bunch
of times where we’ve been lost. At the beginning of the year, it seemed
like every time we were lost, so I’m aware of that and we’ve got to
stay on top of it. It’s a knife edge. You’ve got to have everything
perfect.”
SOME
HAVE TALKED ABOUT CHANGING THE SPLITTER HEIGHT. WOULD LIKE TO SEE ANY
CHANGES TO THE CAR? “I don’t want to change anything right now. Our automobile
is good to go. I don’t what that would do. I wouldn’t change anything
right now.”
YOUR
CAR IS TERRIFIC ON INTERMEDIATE TRACKS. DO FEEL LIKE IT’S GOOD ON SHORT
TRACKS, TOO? “I feel like our automobile can be really good on short tracks,
too. We ran really well at Martinsville. That was the best run I’ve
ever had at Martinsville. I passed more cars there in that race than I
think I have in all my whole career races there. So, I feel like our
car is going to be good everywhere.”
THIS
TRACK HAS BEEN GOOD TO YOU. “Yeah, this track’s been great. We’ve sat
on the pole, led a bunch the last time we were here. The automobile is pretty
fast today. So, we’ll know more as the weekend goes on, but this is one
I look forward to every time.”
AFTER
YOUR WIN AT TEXAS, YOU SAID THAT YOU LIKE RACING WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE THE
DRIVER CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. DOES THIS TRACK BEING AS FLAT AS IT IS
LEND ITSELF TO THAT WAY OF THINKING? “The driver is going to be a huge
factor at this place. You know, the smaller the track is, generally the
driver makes a bigger difference. This track is a real driver’s race
track. You’ve got to be doing different things all the way around the
race track to make the automobile work.”
WITH
THE DIFFERENCES AT THE TWO ENDS, DO YOU SET UP THE CAR FOR ONE END, OR
TRY TO SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE? “You’ve just got to set it up for whatever
is the best lap at the time. The finish line’s after turns three and
four, so, apparently that one’s a little more important, because if it
comes down to it, that’s the one you want to be good in.”
LAST WEEK AT TEXAS, A
LOT OF DRIVERS WERE FRUSTRATED ABOUT NOT BEING ABLE TO DRIVE IN
TRAFFIC. DO YOU BELIEVE THE DRIVERS SHOULD NOT COMPALIN ABOUT IT AND
JUST DRIVE, OR DO YOU BELIEVE NASCAR CAN MAKE SOME CHANGES? “I promise
you there’s no changes you’re going to make to this automobile that will make
it better in traffic. I can promise you that. There’s just no way. The
car’s big. A bigger automobile makes a bigger hole in the air which means
worse for the cars behind you. It’s just that simple. You’re not going
to fix that. It’s a historical problem that is going to go on forever.
No matter what size the automobile is, or how fast you’re going, the guy in
front is still going to have an advantage. This automobile is really, really
hard to pass in traffic. It’s really hard. I can see it 15 automobile lengths
before I’d catch a guy – actually, you couldn’t catch him; you’d get
within 15 automobile lengths of him and then it was all over. The automobile would
quit going forward. That’s just part of it.”
IF
YOU COULD MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN TO IMPROVE IT, WHAT WOULD THAT BE? “I
don’t think you’re going to fix this car. One, is how the windshield is
stood up. And the size of it. It’s what NASCAR wanted. This is what
NASCAR wanted. NASCAR built this car, and it’s our job to race it, race
it the best we can, get it to handle the best we can and do what we can
with it. That’s out job, so that’s what we’re going to focus on and
we’re going to work on, and we’ll just let nature take its course.”
DO
YOU NEED TO TEST MORE? “Testing it not going to make it not aero tight.
There’s nothing in this workd that you can put on there that it won’t
be aero tight. It’s a car, you put a automobile behind it, one’s going to be
in dirty air and one’s not. The old automobile did it, not as bad. The new automobile
does it real bad. But, it’s the size the car, and the configuration,
with the windshield and all the components. And you’re not ever going
to fix it. Everybody else has tried, it just matter. Whatever you do to
the car, the automobile is still so big, and you shove it through the air and
it makes a hole behind it. It’s the way it is.”
SO
YOUR JOB IS TO MAKE IT BETTER… “Search around on the race track, change
your corner entry, do what you can to get in front of ’em. Get in front
of ’em on pit road. Get in front of ’em however you can.”
DID
YOU PAY MUCH ATTENTION TO THE AARON FIKE REVELATIONS? “No. I really
didn’t. Amber [Moody, team PR rep] just filled me in that some more
things had surfaced about it. But I don’t know the whole story. I was
surprised to hear the drugs they claim he was using or was using or
whatever. I don’t know. Some kids will never grow up. When you get
big-time motorsports or you get a big job like this, you’ve got to take
it seriously. You can’t be out drinking beer, you can’t be out doing
whatever. You’ve got to focus on what your job at hand is.”
HAVE
YOU EVER HAD CONCERNS ABOUT A FELLOW COMPETITOR, AT ANY LEVEL? “No. I
don’t feel like I’ve ever had to be concerned about another driver
being coherent or in good enough shape to race – at least in the Nextel
Cup garage. The Nationwide Series, I don’t really think so there,
either. I’m not around those guys as much because I’m running back and
forth, but that kind of stuff doesn’t really go on in our sport.”
THIS
MORNING, KEVIN HARVICK SAID HE THOUGHT 99 PERCENT OF THE SPORT WAS
CLEAN, BUT JUST TO ADDRESS THE PERCEPTION, GUYS SHOULD BE TESTED
REGULARLY. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT? “What I think NASCAR should do
is schedule the drivers’ meeting an hour early some week, and right as
we come out of the drivers’ meeting, just test everybody. It doesn’t
take long. Forty-three guys, you’ve got an hour. Just schedule the
drivers’ meeting a little early. Nobody would be suspicious of it, and
just say, ?Make up your line over here, guys.’ I absolutely think they
should. And all this privacy B.S., and you can’t do this, you can’t do
that; you want to race in the sport? Just get tested. I’ll get tested
any time, I don’t care. And I think a lot of people are like that.”
MORE
ON TESTING. “I do believe they should do random tests. I wouldn’t do it
random these three guys or this week we’re going to do those two guys
over there, just do ’em all the same day. Everybody. Just one time.
Like I said, it would only take an hour. And then it would be cut and
dried – no ifs, ands or buts about it.”
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