Victory Interview with Carl Edwards from NASCAR Nationwide Series at CGV
Attached is the audio file of the interview with race champ Carl Edwards along with a transcript and a link http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationwide/sets/72157622195161562/ to all the pictures we shot this weekend plus more that were not published. Nationwide will be at the Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday for the Degree V12 300. @Nationwide will be Twittering. Nancy Smeltzer Nationwide Insurance Communication Consultant (614) 249-4491 FAX: (614) 677-6802 Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/nancy501 Follow Nationwide on Twitter: www.twitter.com/nationwide Carl Edwards NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion Interview – Circuit Gilles Villeneuve The Nationwide Series road race in Montreal was pretty exciting when it was dry, but when the clouds opened up with 16 laps to go and NASCAR decided that they - would for the second year in a row - race in the rain, well at that point things got really crazy with cars slipping, sliding, slamming off each other, oh and by the way, there was a spectacular finish. Australian driver Marcos Ambrose dominated the action in both conditions. When Carl Edwards caught up with him on the last lap in the last turn, Ambrose hit the curb, his car flies into the air and there’s Edwards sneaking by to take the checkered flag. Marcos Ambrose: I might have mistaken the last corner, last lap and lost the race because of it. Disappointing but you have to take the lumps as they come. I’m racing up against some pretty awesome drivers and some great equipment. You know we led a lot of laps and just starting to get annoyed with this track to be quite honest with you. Its three years in a row that I have seemed to given it away. Just took forever this race. I mean I must of had five or six restarts off the front there and didn’t manage to mess up any of them but it’s just disappointing, I just feel bad for my guys that I let them down and congratulations for Carl for winning the race and he put me under pressure there at the end and I made a mistake. Carl Edwards: We drove into turn 10 which is what you call the 180 degree hair pin there. I drove in a little bit deeper than him, braked a little later and I caught him and that surprised me, I didn’t think I would catch him in that corner but I had the benefit of watching his car and being able to go just a little farther than him, that’s all I was going to do. He was kind of out there blind, feeling the track and once I got him we came off of turn 10 and he was spinning his tires and I thought, I might have him here and then he got in front me, I spun my tires a little bit or something and I thought well there’s nobody who brakes harder in this sport than him, brakes later, so I thought I don’t know what I can do here in this last corner and low and behold he just hit the inside curb a little too hard and piled into the second curb and just opened the door. I just saw it all materialize there, that was an amazing gift. Unknown Canadian driver Andrew Ranger ran upfront all day and came home third. Andrew Ranger: The battle with the big guys was pretty impressed. I was definitely impressed about myself. I think for the fans in Montreal it’s pretty fun to finish on the podium like that. We have been fast all weekend long but great to finish on the podium and Nationwide the big race here. Fellow country man Jacques Villeneuve came home forth, the former Indy 500 winner and Formula One champion, said it was the wackiest race he’s ever been a part of. Jacques Villeneuve: It is the wildest one because if we did that in F-One you would survive five meters and you would probably be rolling or have no wheels attached so there is no way that you could do restarts like that. This was wild, this was definitely crazy and it’s a good thing those cars are strong. Maybe that is why we run into each other so much. Finishing fifth it was Brad Keselowski with the rest of the top 10: Tony Raines, Jean-Francois Dumoulin, Stephen Leicht, Brendan Gaughan and Kyle Busch, whose car was torn to pieces from being run into so many times. His point lead was also cut for the second straight week. He now leads Carl Edwards by 192 points with 10 races to go before we decide the 2009 Nationwide Series Championship. Ironically Edwards and Marcos Ambrose were teammates in Saturday’s Grand-Am race, believe it or not Edwards crashed on the warm-up lap. Edwards: That was definitely the low point of the weekend, wrecking that car before the race started and this is definitely the high point, so at least we went up, that was good. Just an amazing last lap, I don’t know what Marcos had to say about it but that was pretty fun. Well Marcos didn’t exactly say it was fun but he did admit his opinion of Edwards might be changing. Ambrose: You know he crashed the sports car on me on Saturday and then he goes and steals the win from me so I’m starting to think I don’t like him. A full set of the pictures taken at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationwide/sets/72157622195161562/ / The Nationwide Series will return this week to the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Georgia Saturday. Look for the audio interview following the Degree V12 300. And don’t forget, Nationwide’s Media Team will be Twittering from the Atlanta Motor Speedway. You can follow the Team’s whereabouts on the track at Twitter/Nationwide ( http://twitter.com/Nationwide). If there is a picture of someone or something you would like to see trackside, send your request to http://twitter.com/Nationwide. The team will try its best to get the shot. Pictures will be posted at http://www.twitpic.com/photos/nationwide