CE DIEHARDS - March 26, 2008 - Race Previews
Carl Edwards will make his eighth career start at Martinsville Speedway this weekend when the Sprint Cup Series runs its sixth race of 2008.
No Martinsville magic, yet: Carl Edwards has ran seven races at the little paper clip style half mile in Virginia; has yet to score even a top-ten finish on the tight track. Edwards has ran 3326 of 3506 laps and his best career finish came at the track last October with an 11th place finish. He has not even led a single lap at the layout, and his total winnings at the track amount to $600,242.
Third Race without Osborne: This weekend will be the third of six races without crew chief Bob Osborne on top of the box. Chris Andrews and Robbie Reiser will be co-crew chiefing once again this weekend it appears.
Chasiss for the weekend: This weekend the No. 99 Clariton Ford Fusion will be covering Chassis No. RK-513. The race was last raced at Phoenix in November and appeared to be well on its way to winning before the engine expired inside the car.
Clariton Clear in Martinsville: This weekend will be the first of two races for the Clariton colors to cover Edwards' No. 99 Roush Fenway Ford Fusion. The scheme will also be on the car in May at Darlington.
Carl Edwards on Martinsville Speedway -
"Martinsville is a track that I’ve really had a tough time at over the years,” he said. “It's probably one of the toughest tracks for me in the Cup car, but I’m still really looking forward to the race. Track position is so important at Martinsville, if we can have a decent qualifying run, I think we’ll race well. A lot can happen in 500 laps at Martinsville, and things like pit strategy and tire management can make or break you,”
Chris Andrews on Martinsville Speedway -
“The No. 99 and all the Roush Fenway Racing teams have had a strong start to the season, and now we're returning to some of the tracks where we started to show progress with our [car of tomorrow] cars last fall,” Andrews said. “While Martinsville hasn’t been one of Carl’s strongest tracks statistically speaking, he has run well there but doesn’t seem to have the finishes to back that up. We’ll look to change that this time around.”