Edwards wants a win at MIS

By Jim Pedley

Special to the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

Carl Edwards will not just be racing for himself and his crew in this weekend’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan International Speedway. He won’t even just be racing for Roush Fenway Racing. Bigger than that.

Edwards will be racing for an entire car company, the reputation of its new engine, and for the city and state that is so closely identified with that company. A lot of pressure, right?

Not really, said Edwards, who will be attempting to get Ford its first Sprint Cup victory in 18 races and his first series victory since 2008. Just incentive.

“My first Cup start was there, and to go up to the Detroit area and race in front of all the folks who work so hard at Ford and support us every week is pretty special,” Edwards said. “There is a lot of pride on the line to do well up there. We’d like to get Ford their first win of the season, and I can’t think of a better place to do it. I broke a 52-race winless streak there in 2007, so this would be a good time to do that as well.”

MIS has been more than a home track for team owner Jack Roush (whose hometown is just up the road in Livonia, Mich.) and Ford (whose headquarters are in nearby Detroit). It has been a good track.

Roush has 11 Cup victories as an owner at MIS. Ford has won 31 times there, the most among manufacturers. And Edwards is a two-time winner at Michigan with an average finishing position of 6.1 — best among active drivers at the 2-mile oval.

But all that’s relatively ancient history.

Recent history is a different story. When the question, “What have Edwards, Roush and Ford done for their fans lately?” is asked, the answer is, “Not much.”

The last Cup victory for Ford came in the fall race at Talladega in 2009 and that was logged by Jamie McMurray, who is long gone as a Roush Fenway and Ford driver. The last victory before that was in the second race of the 2009 season.

The last victory for Edwards came at Homestead in 2008 — the season in which he won nine times. He’s 0-for-50 since.

Got to be frustrating. Not really, Roush said this week. Not as badly as some might think.

“I think everybody has pretty much done a good job not getting frustrated,” he said. “Carl has obviously matured in the last four or five years that he’s been with our program. … He’s gone from being brash and if not ruthless, certainly overenthusiastic in some of his actions on the track, and he’s matured into being a card-carrying senior guy now.

“Anybody that stays in this business very long understands that you can’t be in the top all the time.”

Still, everybody associated with Ford wants to see the drought end, and that includes Jamie Allison, the boss at Ford North America Motorsports, who will be at MIS this weekend.

Allison said it’s no secret Ford has been struggling in efforts to get to victory lane. And, he said, MIS would be the perfect place to end those struggles.