Just months after losing the
Sprint Cup Series championship to Tony Stewart in a tiebreaker for the first
time in the history of the sport, Edwards plummeted to 15th in
championship points, missing the cut for the Chase For
the NASCAR Sprint Cup and failing to win a single race.
Edwards ended a 70-race
winless streak with a victory at Phoenix International Raceway Sunday,
prompting Roush to admit that his marquee driver did not have the personnel
around him to succeed last season.
“We were holding Carl back
last year without meaning to, just because we didn’t have the right chemistry
around him,” Roush said.
In an effort to correct that
shortcoming, Roush shifted veteran Jimmy Fennig to the top of Edwards’ pit box
this season, accompanied by virtually all hands from Matt Kenseth’s highly
successful 2012 over-the-wall team.
A crew chief at NASCAR’s
highest level since 1986, Fennig won the 1988 Daytona 500 with NASCAR Hall of
Famer Bobby Allison and claimed 14
additional Cup wins with Roush Fenway Racing drivers Mark Martin and Kurt Busch. An avowed “old-school
racer,” Fennig has refocused Edwards and his team, producing a win in only
their second start.
“I go about my work a little
different than some people do,” said Fennig. “I’m a hard worker. We pay
attention to detail on our race cars, and that’s about it. I do the same thing
I did with Matt and Mark Martin in ’98.”
“That’s the way I work,” he
said. “We still have 85 percent of the team left from the 17. (They’re) still there and everybody knows the way I
operate (and) what I want. We’re just trying to deliver it to Carl.”
That attention to detail has
Edwards anxious to chase his second consecutive checkered flag this weekend at
Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and to be a factor in the title chase once again.
“I'm more excited to go to
Vegas than I've been in a long time,” said Edwards, who won the Kobalt Tools
400 there in 2011. “(I’m) very pumped.”
Sorry, But I don't buy the holding him back theory!! Ford and Roush gave "The Cuz" the WORLD And in the end lost the only champion they had on board as far as Cup racing goes! And I believe the one they let get away will haunt them!!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree.
DeleteAs soon as soon as they WON a race they start with the reasons why last year was a very poor year for the #99.
ReplyDeleteWhats going to be the story if this is the only win this season and Carl ends up 20th in points ( and it can happen )
Sorry, Mr Roush, but that is a load of crap. You were holding Kennseth back last year, because you were focusing too much on Edwards, and you lost him.
ReplyDeleteoh well. i tried to voice my opinion.
ReplyDelete