IN BUSCH SERIES, KENSETH MOVES UP IN NEXTEL CUP POINTS AND CRAWFORD CONTINUES CONSISTENT DRIVING IN TRUCK SERIES
Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 60 Fusion in the NASCAR Busch Series, won Saturday’s Federated Auto Parts 300 at Nashville Superspeedway. This is his second win in a row and fourth of the season. Matt Kenseth drove his No. 17 Fusion to a ninth-place finish in Sunday’s rain-shortened Pocono 500. He moves up one spot in the points to second. Rick Crawford, driver of the No.14 F-150 in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series finished third in the Sam’s Town 400 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Carl Edwards found his way back to victory lane for the second week in a row, Matt Kenseth climbs to second in the Nextel Cup Series and Rick Crawford remains consistent in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Saturday’s Busch Series win at Nashville Superspeedway was the fourth for Edwards this season, and second in as many races.
“We fell back at the beginning, made some adjustments, had great pit stops and then at the end we had that long green flag run,” said Edwards.
When looking at the four tracks where Edwards has won at this season, all are concrete race tracks.
"I don't know why I race well on concrete,' said Edwards. "A lot has to do with my cars. I believe the concrete tracks are more finicky and the car has to be better. If the car is good, it makes you look good.'
Edwards’ victory extends his lead in the Busch Series to 662 over second-place driver, Kevin Harvick.
Sunday’s Nextel Cup race was delayed and shortened by rain and drivers ran only 106 of 200 scheduled laps. Kenseth was the top Ford driver of the race in ninth place, a finish that helped bump him up one spot in the standings to second.
“Our car’s been okay,” said Kenseth during a red-flag rain delay. “We don’t run particularly well here, and we’re okay. We were pretty much a top-10 car, a couple of guys are up there on fuel, but other than that we’ve done all right. We’re doing a good job of calling the race, and everything’s run okay.”
Crawford, driving his No. 14 F-150, finished third in Friday’s truck series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
“It was fun for me to drive tonight,” said Crawford. “We made some bold moves out there and after starting 14th we came home third. It should have been a winning truck. These guys are tough out here in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and we ran ‘em tough all night, that’s just all we had.”
“I ran hard from the drop of the green flag and through those first few cautions. If you all noticed, there was a lot of green flag laps tonight and tough attrition on these trucks, but that’s probably the best truck I’ve had here at Texas from the green flag to the checkered flag.”
Crawford’s teammate David Starr also put together a solid weekend as he finished in fifth place.
“This is a new team,” said Staff. “We got it put together so late into the off season and it’s just starting to come together now. We know we can be competitive and that was our first top 10 and our first top five. I was hoping my teammate Rick Crawford could win the race. I was trying to get up there to push him in the back, but couldn’t.”
The Ford NHRA Funny Car drivers struggled this weekend in Joliet. Robert Hight did not qualify for the race as a broken supercharger drive belt left him .014 of a second away from qualifying for the race and both John and Ashley Force were knocked out in the first round.
Also racing this weekend was the Grand-Am Rolex Series in Watkins Glen. Memo Gidley and Guy Cosmo brought home their Doran Racing Ford in 10th place.
The Nextel Cup Series and Craftsman Truck Series head to Michigan International Speedway next weekend, the Busch Series races in Kentucky and the Koni Challenge Series heads to Mosport International Raceway.
