By Hank Kurz Jr.
Associated Press
MARTINSVILLE, Va. ó Roush Fenway Racing teammates Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth couldnít have asked for a better scenario than rain washing out qualifying for Sundayís race at Martinsville Speedway.
Edwards had never qualified better than seventh on the 0.526-mile oval, and Kenseth had never qualified better than 14th before weather handed them the front row spots Saturday.
ěQualifying, I think, is one of the most important parts of this race and itís no secret thatís been a tough thing for me and Matt as well, so I think itís best-case for us that we get to start on the front row, and even better is the pit stall selection,î Edwards said.
ěI think thatís gonna last all day no matter how much we have to work on the car.î
With only four races left in the season, and a lead of just 14 points over Kenseth, 18 over Brad Keselowski and 19 over Tony Stewart, Edwards will take all the help he can get. He has four top-10 finishes in his last seven starts at the oldest track in the series, while Kenseth has seven top 10s in 23 starts. Neither has won here, while some of the other contenders have.
Stewart has won twice, but not since 2006, and five-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson, who is 50 points off the lead, has been to Victory Lane six times, last in 2009.
Of course, apart from being able to select the pit stall at the front of pit road, giving him unimpeded access back onto the track, the other contenders will start up front, too.
ěIt almost takes qualifying out of the equation,î Edwards said.
The racing will be another matter entirely, and when the teams finally got onto the track Saturday for their only practice session before the race, Johnson was third fastest, while Kenseth was 24th and Edwards 29th. On runs of 10 consecutive laps, Johnsonís speed of 95.322 mph was well faster than Kenseth (29th, 93.953 mph) and Edwards (30th, 93,851 mph).
Besides speed, itís also nearly impossible to get through 500 laps around the paper clip-shaped oval without sustaining some damage to your car, and with a poor track record, Edwardsí team will try to build off the setup Kenseth used for his sixth-place run here in the spring.
ěWhat weíll probably do is put whatever (setup) Matt had on it the last race and hope for the best,î said Edwards, who finished 18th in the spring race. ěIn a perfect world, you would want something … that you could adjust on more because you donít have as much practice and you maybe donít have as much knowledge built up as to what exactly the setup is going to do.î
For Edwards, that uncertainty is all part of the dread of coming to Martinsville.
ěFor the last few races, Iíve come to it dreading it a little bit, but now I come to it just realizing, ëHey, Iíve got my work cut out for me. I have to perform well. I have to go out here and give everything Iíve got,í and, to me, to come out of here with a top 10 would be a success,î he said, adding that boosting his lead from 5 to 14 points last weekend helped.
Edwards finished only 11th at Talladega, but Kevin Harvick dropped from second to fifth after finishing 32nd, and Johnson finished 26th, falling 15 more points off the pace.
ěIf we would have come in here tied with like (Kevin Harvick) or Jimmie (Johnson) or somebody like that, Iíd be really nervous because Iíd say they had an advantage. Iíd say they could do more damage to us in that situation, but having a little bit of a cushion based on our good fortune last week, I just look at it as a challenge,î Edwards said.
Edwardsí position, Johnson said, can be harder than the one everyone else faces.
ěWhen youíre protecting something, youíre almost in the way of thinking that glass is half full and Iíve got to be careful. In qualifying, Iíd better make sure I make a perfect lap. If it doesnít turn out well, OK, then now Iím in traffic and there could be a crash. You start thinking down a negative line of thought,î the only driver to win five straight titles said.
ěFor me, chasing, there was far less negative thoughts in my mind; it was all aggression. Pretty simple; youíve got to qualify well. If you donít, well, now Iíve got to figure out how to get through these guys. I need to go lead a lap. There is just a small subtle change in how you approach things. … I had more fun last year chasing Denny (Hamlin) than I did other years protecting something. But I would much rather be in a position of protecting,î Johnson said.