CE DIEHARDS - February 18, 2008 - Race Recaps
Carl Edwards and his team had been solid through the entire week after a terrible qualifying run in the Pole Session last Sunday afternoon. Edwards finished fifth in his Gatorade Duels to start the Daytona 500 off in the 11th position on Sunday in the 50th running of the Great American Race.
Edwards told his crew early in the event, that it was "tight up off the bottom of the track." Edwards still remained amongst the top-ten competitors in the race, as he would come down pit road on lap 35. Crew Chief Bob Osborne decided that the best adjustment for the car would be a wedge adjustment to the car to loosen it up. When the stop was completed and the field of cars cycled through their stops the No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion was in the 10th position.
Edwards decided that it would be best to run in line. He rode in the seventh position for the next 35 laps around the race track. The race would not have a caution flag and the c ars would have to make another green flag stop on the 74th lap of the race, and the team would put four fresh tires on the car and make an air pressure adjustment on the No. 99 Ford Fusion. Edwards left the pits in the 8th position, and Edwards told Osborne that his car had gotten better through the run.
On Lap 79, the first caution flag fell for debris on the race track. Edwards came down pit road for two tires, after only running five laps prior to the stop. The race resumed on lap 84, and Edwards remained in the eighth position. Then on lap 102, Bobby Labonte moved down into Carl Edwards's car and made contact with the left rear quarter panel of the No. 99 Ford. He was able to keep from crashing the car, but there was damage on the car and he quickly began to move backwards. Edwards was in 31st by lap 112, and had fell down to 34th by lap 117, when the team made another green flag pit stop.
The team was unable to make repairs on the car since the stop was made under green. On lap 150, the caution fell once again and the crew was able to fix the car. Edwards would be able to nurse the car home to a 19th place finish.
Carl Edwards on the Daytona 500 - " We were really pretty good and just got shuffled back at the end. And we had a deal where we got caught up with the 77 car and slowed us way down. We had a competitive car, and it could've been a top-10 pretty easy. We just did the best we could."