Darlington: Carl Edwards preview

Carl Edwards on racing at Darlington Raceway:

"It's Mother's Day weekend at Darlington and I'm actually going to bring two mothers with me -- my Mom and Annie's Mom (Kate). It will be Kate's first Mother's Day so it will be a lot of fun for all of us.

"I love Darlington. It is one of my favorite race tracks. It's a place with a lot of history and a place where the driver can really make a big difference. I think that's why everyone loves going there. It's just got a mystique about it. There's a feeling you get when you throw that thing down into turn one, it's like no other race track. We've been really close to winning there in the past, and we've had some really great runs, but haven't been able to put anything together. For me a win there would be very special. I've had a lot of help there from really great drivers there like Jeff Burton and David Pearson. They have really helped me to try to be the best I can there."

Crew Chief Bob Osborne on racing at Darlington Raceway:

"We got our first top-five finish of the season at Richmond last weekend so we're hoping to keep that momentum alive at Darlington on Saturday. It is one of Carl's favorite tracks, so we plan to give him a fast race car and he will be competitive with it. It's a challenging track, and like last week we practice in the day but race at night so that adds another aspect to setting up the car for the race."

* Carl Edwards will make his seventh NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Darlington Raceway in this weekend's Showtime Southern 500.

* ON THE TRACK... The No. 99 team will carry the silver Aflac paint scheme this weekend. The crew will be unloading chassis RK-558 this weekend. This is the same Ford Fusion that Edwards raced at both Pocono races in 2009 with his best finish coming in June (second place).

-source: rfr