Friday, May 03, 2013

Edwards Hoping For Rain After Fast Practice Lap

Carl Edwards posted the fastest time in opening practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Talladega Superspeedway Friday.  

Now, he can pray for rain. 

With precipitation in the forecast for tomorrow at the speedway, there is a significant chance that qualifying could be cancelled. If so, the starting lineup for Sunday’s race will be set according to practice speeds.  

Edwards has never won in 17 attempts at Talladega, and would likely accept the inside front-row starting spot without apology. He has struggled throughout his career at the Alabama oval, with an average start of 14.9 and an average finish of 21.8, with five DNFs. His fast lap at 199.675 mph would have been the fastest pole-winning speed since Elliott’s 199.388 in 1990; but was still far short of Elliott’s unrestricted track record of 212.809 mph, set in 1987.

Martin Truex Jr. was second fast today, and will start on the outside pole if qualifying falls victim to the rain tomorrow. Marcos Ambrose, Joey Logano and Ryan Newman completed the Top-5. Matt Kenseth was sixth, followed by Denny Hamlin in his first laps since suffering a compression fracture of his T1 vertebra in a crash at Auto Club Speedway in March.  

No comments:

Post a Comment