Carl Edwards Texas II post-race interview

Carl Edwards

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

CARL EDWARDS – No. 60 Fastenal Ford Mustang

“The restart I was really happy Trevor was behind me and then he wasn’t behind me anymore after that and I was really happy that he was able to hold off the 18. Our Fastenal Mustang was good all day. Towards the end we didn’t adjust our car as well, I don’t think, which is just as much my fault as anyone’s. We had such a dominant run all day. We were maybe a little lax on our last adjustment and Trevor got in there behind me. He pushed me out in front of the 18 and I wasn’t really worried about him going to the bottom because I thought if he went to the bottom I could hold him off and run on his door and make it hard on him, but I was wrong. He drove right by and then Denny drove by and they just drove away from us, which made me feel a little bit better that they drove away and I didn’t just give it up 100 percent on that pass. I’m just really glad he was able to hold off Denny. We did close one point on those guys in the owner’s championship, which is important to us right now, so I think it’s a two-point race there."

WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO NASCAR PARKING KYLE BUSCH THE REST OF THIS WEEKEND? “I didn’t hear anything that Mike Helton said, so I don’t know the exact reason or anything like that. I’ll just let Denny talk about that."

WILL YOU THINK TWICE ABOUT DUMPING SOMEONE IN THE FUTURE? “Like I said, I haven’t heard what Mike said yet and I haven’t had a chance to talk to him, so I don’t know yet."

HOW BIG DO YOU THINK THIS IS FOR TREVOR TO WIN? “I think it’s huge for Trevor. I’m happy to see him have success, as happy as I can be as a competitor of his. I think that Trevor has been through a lot this year. I think he’s been through a lot that anybody in his position would consider that a big journey that he’s been on and to be as young as he is and to have so many changes in his life right now, and for him to handle everything as gracefully as he has, I think, says a lot about him. So it’s neat to see someone like that have some success. If it becomes a regular thing, I don’t know if I would be as happy for him, but I am happy for him today."

WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY FOR TOMORROW? “I think the track was a little different than it was in practice with the Cup cars and as the race went on I learned where some of the grip was and where it wasn’t. I was fortunate enough to be able to start first a couple times and try the inside and outside. That was pretty interesting and overall the way that the track changed throughout the day. Even though the timing is a little different for tomorrow’s race, I still think I learned a little bit about the way the track is gonna change.”

HOW WILL IT BE NOT HAVING KYLE IN THE RACE TOMORROW? “How many points back is he (57). I thought he was closer than that, but, like I said, I’d like to talk to Helton about it and understand exactly what the reasoning was and I haven’t talked to Kyle personally or anything, so I still don’t know enough about the situation, but, from a competitive standpoint, that’s one less guy out there that’s chasing you down for the championship. From a pure competition standpoint, that is simpler for us now."

DANICA FINISHED 11TH TODAY. DO YOU NOTICE THAT SHE’S LEARNING AND GETTING BETTER? “I came around and only lapped her, I think, one time and it took me a long time to get by her and, finally, when I did get up right to the outside of her coming off the corner I thought she did a great job of giving me just the right amount of room. She’s definitely come a long way in my book. Of course, I knew that when I bumped her out of the way at Montreal, she went in the next corner and bumped me right back out of the way, so she’s a good racer.”