KANSAS CITY, Kan.— Carl Edwards lost the Kansas pole by a mere .017 seconds, started second and for much of Sunday’s race, he was flying.
In the late going, however, the sun came out from behind the clouds and upset the handling of his No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Edwards plummeted to 17th at the finish–not the result he expected.
“That’s very disappointing for our whole team, because we had such a fast car, and then the sun came out and we were not in good shape,” Edwards said. “The handling went away big-time. I’ve got to thank Ricky Stenhouse (Edwards’ teammate). I was holding him off and I slid up in front of him, and he could have wrecked me, but he didn’t.
“I was in denial about my car at that point. I thought we were fast, and then we had our strategy set up to rely on the caution not coming out, but the caution came out, and I think that pretty much ruined it for all the Roush Fenway cars (which were trapped a lap down briefly after pitting under green).
“The cool thing is we had fast race cars and there were points in the race where I think we had the fastest cars. We’ll just move on, but I’m glad we get to come back here in the fall.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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