Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion, was second-fastest in Saturday’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice session at Chicagoland Speedway. Earlier in the day, Edwards won the pole for tonight’s Dollar General 300. He spoke about both while walking to the Nationwide Series driver’s meeting.
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion – YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE TWO PRETTY GOOD CARS. “Yeah, we should be pretty good. We’ll see how the races go because that’s all that matters, but, hopefully it’ll be good. We’re having fun so far.”
YOU’RE STARTING 25TH TOMORROW NIGHT, BUT THERE’S STILL PLENTY OF TIME TO GET TO THE FRONT, RIGHT? “Yeah. If you’ve got a fast car it should be simple enough to pass because it’s got so many grooves. Hopefully that’s the case. I hope we’re good enough to get up there, but you never know until it starts.”
SOMETIMES A ONE-LAP SPEED ISN’T INDICATIVE OF HOW A CAR IS ON A FUEL RUN. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR CAR OVERALL? “We’re pretty good. We might not be the second-fastest car, but we’re top four and that’s good.”
Paul Menard, driver of the No. 98 Menards Ford Fusion, will be racing in front of friends and family this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway. After making his qualifying lap for tonight’s Dollar General 300, Menard spoke about competing returning to his Midwest roots.
PAUL MENARD – No. 98 Menards Ford Fusion – HOW DO YOU FEEL RUNNING BOTH OF THESE RACES IN FRONT OF YOUR HOMETOWN AREA FANS? “It’s kind of a cookie-cutter race track, obviously, and a lot like quite a few that we go to, so there’s nothing really unique about the race track itself. I’ve got a lot of friends and family in the area that will be here for both races, so it should be fun.”
IS IT HARD TO FILL ALL OF THE TICKET REQUESTS YOU GET FOR A WEEKEND LIKE THIS? “No, it’s pretty easy, really. There are certain channels that you go through and we’ve got those channels down.”
IS IT MORE FUN RUNNING BOTH RACES HERE AS OPPOSED TO SOME PLACE ELSE? “It really doesn’t matter because once you’re in the race car you don’t really think about anything like that. It’s fun before and after the race, though, because you get to visit with a lot of smiling faces.”
