Edwards, Ford drivers talk about Richmond qualifying

Carl Edwards, Roush Fenway Racing Ford

Photo by: Eric Gilbert

CARL EDWARDS, No. 99 Ford EcoBoost Ford (Qualified 2nd) “We haven’t been very good in qualifying for about the last month and Jack (Roush) said he has quit giving me advice because he thought that was part of it. But he hasn’t said anything in about a month and I asked if he had any advice and he said, ‘No sir, I am not saying anything.’ But he is happy. We are happy. That is a good lap and we have Ford EcoBoost on the car which is a great product and hopefully this is a top-five or six starting spot. We have a better race trim package than we do a qualifying trim package so I am excited about that.”

CASEY MEARS, No. 13 GEICO Ford (Qualified 26th) “We’ve been struggling the whole time we have been here. We have been all over the map setup wise trying to find something that works. For whatever reason all the cars are different from what we had last year. We had some pretty good cars here last year and we just can’t seem to get ahold of it. We tried to reference what we had last year because that is all we have to go off of and it is not working. We need to find out – we are struggling to find out what these Roush cars really need without having a baseline. We have struggled hard since we’ve been here. That was tight through the center that time with no drive off. We’ve gotta try to figure it out because right now it is not that good.”

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 43 Smithfield Ford (Qualified 11th) “That was pretty loose off of two. We had been fighting tight and made an effort to free it up for qualifying. We did a pretty good job right there, we got it quite a bit freer. It was a decent lap and will be an okay starting spot. I would have loved to have been in the top-10 but I think we will be just outside of that. I am proud of everyone on the Smithfield Ford team for their hard work and we will go at it tomorrow night.”

GREG BIFFLE, No. 16 3M Give Kids A Smile Ford (Qualified 28th) “I don’t know what happened there. I just guess we didn’t have the grip we needed. I was probably just a little bit tight in the center I guess and that was all the grip I had. It was all that I could do.”

DAVID GILLILAND, No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford (Qualified 42nd) “The track had a lot more grip. We were a little too free for the first time all day. We were loose and we missed it there a little bit but I feel like we have a good car in race trim and that is primarily what we practiced all day today so we will go get ‘em tomorrow night.”

DAVID RAGAN, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford (Qualified 38th) “It was uneventful. We struggle qualifying. We don’t spend a lot of time qualifying. We try to run as much as we can in race trim. I always wish we could qualify a little better but the strategy and plan we are on we try to spend as much time as we can in race practice. I never expect a lot more. I would like to be a little better, but don’t really expect it.”

CARL EDWARDS PRESS CONFERENCE (Edwards qualifies on the outside of row 1 in the 2nd position for Saturday nights NSCS race)

THAT WAS A VERY CLOSE MARGIN BY WHICH MARK MARTIN GOT YOU BUT YOU MUST FEEL GOOD WITH YOUR STARTING POSITION. “Yeah, one of his team managers said, ‘Just be glad he is 53, not 35.’ It is good for us to be on the front row. If you can’t be first you better be second. It is a good starting spot for us. Man that was dramatic for me to watch him run that first lap and be that close and then watch the tracker. I thought we had him but he shot up to the top of the scoreboard. He has nerves of steel and did a great job. He’s got the pole.”