Carl Edwards and the No. 99 Office Depot team came to Chicagoland Speedway with a racecar capable of winning, as they unloaded RK-272, the car Edwards raced to victory at Michigan earlier this year. Though Edwards and team, led by crew chief Bob Osborne were confident in their Roush Fenway racing machine, they would face an uphill battle trying to tackle the 1.5-mile Illinois track.
Edwards qualified 25th for Sunday’s USG Sheetrock 400 and from the drop of the green flag he reported that the Office Depot Ford was experiencing “loose” handling conditions. Throughout the first 112 laps of the race, Edwards brought the No. 99 down pit road three times for scheduled pit stops so that the Office Depot crew could tweak the ill-handling racecar. On each occasion, the No. 99 team worked to improve the loose handling conditions. Air pressure, wedge and track bar adjustments were made and as the race progressed, Edwards became more pleased with his Ford.
Edwards continue to make gains on the competition and when caution fell on lap 153, he was scored in seventh place. Under the caution period, Osborne called Edwards to pit road once more for what should have been a speedy, four tires, fuel and minor air pressure adjustment stop. However, trouble on the stop stalled Edwards in the pits for 17.25 seconds and resulted in the loss of four valuable track positions. When green flag racing commenced on lap 159, Edwards was in 11th place.
Focused and determined not to let the setback get him down, Edwards worked his way back up into the top-10 within two laps. As Edwards re-entered the top 10 and began to make gains, another caution fell on lap 164 and once again the No. 99 would see pit road. On this stop, Osborne ordered four tires, fuel and a minor air pressure adjustment. The race re-started with just under 100 laps remaining and Edwards was running 16th, as not all cars opted for four tires on the stop.
Over the next 100 laps, Edwards reported that his car was experiencing loose handling conditions. Despite the issues, Edwards continued to run inside the top 10. Throughout two more caution periods, one on lap 201 and another on lap 226, Osborne directed Edwards to pit. On each stop, the No. 99 received four fresh Goodyear tires and Sunoco fuel, as well as minor chassis adjustments to improve the car’s handling. However, on the lap 226 pit stop, pit strategy would factor in, as Edwards entered the pits in fourth place and exited 11th. While most competitors opted for fuel only, Osborne called for four tires, prolonging Edwards’ time in the pits, resulting in loss of track position.
Osborne’s strategy eventually paid off as Edwards quickly maneuvered his way through traffic and moved from 11th on lap 230 when green flag racing commenced to fourth place by lap 244. The race would be stalled twice more due to yellow flags, which benefited the Office Depot team by allowing Edwards to make up ground on the top three cars.
On the race’s final restart on lap 255 Edwards was in fourth place. Just two laps later, on lap 257 he passed Kevin Harvick for third position and was steadily gaining on the second place car of Matt Kenseth. Though Edwards caught Kenseth on the final lap, he was not able to pass him and ultimately finished the race third.
Tony Stewart beat both Kenseth and Edwards to the checkers, ending a 20-race winless streak. Harvick and Casey Mears followed to complete the top-five
The solid third-place finish moved Edwards into fifth place in overall point standings.
The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series will enjoy next weekend off, but will return to racing action at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 29. The Allstate 400 at the Brickyard will be broadcast live on ESPN television and IMS radio affiliates beginning at 1:30 p. m. (EST) on the day of the event.
USG Sheetrock 400 Quotes
CARL EDWARDS
“I just had a lot of fun. I felt like I worked really hard today, I did the best job I could do. We’d work up there and then we’d have a couple of bad pit stops that really set us back. In the end, I don’t know if that really affected our day or not because we took four tires there at the end and that was kind of our strategy anyway. We thought that the four tires would be enough to win the race. There at the end we needed about 20 more laps for the tires to really work. I think Tony had a dominant car. I think his car was faster than ours, but we had little better tires so we were one little increment faster than him at the end and we needed a lot of time to catch him. I got to race with Matt at the end; that was pretty cool. I should’ve stayed to the high side; I think I would’ve gotten him. I tried to slide by him and that didn’t work out, but I did have a good time today. ”
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