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Memphis: Ford teams race notes, quotes

CARL EDWARDS WINS AT MEMPHIS MOTORSPORTS PARK * Carl Edwards captured his 18th NASCAR Nationwide Series victory and first at Memphis Motorsports Park * This is Ford's second victory in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Memphis ...

Published: Oct 25, 2008, 10:39 PM

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CARL EDWARDS WINS AT MEMPHIS MOTORSPORTS PARK

* Carl Edwards captured his 18th NASCAR Nationwide Series victory and first at Memphis Motorsports Park

* This is Ford's second victory in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Memphis Motorsports Park

* This is Edwards' fifth victory of 2008

* Ford has now won two of the 10 NASCAR Nationwide Series races at Memphis Motorsports Park

* Ford has now won 159 NASCAR Nationwide Series races

*        Edwards remains second in NASCAR Nationwide Series points with
three races remaining.  He trails Clint Bowyer by 116 points

* This is the 96th win for team owner Jack Roush. He is the winningest owner in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

***

DAVID RAGAN -- No. 6 Discount Tire Ford Fusion -- (finished 8th, qualified 7th)

WITHIN 45 LAPS, YOU MADE YOUR WAY INTO THE TOP-10. "Yeah, are Discount Tire Ford Fusion had good speed. It was just a matter of fine-tuning it a little bit. Track conditions and the amount of cars on track changed things. The car was fast. We did what everybody else did and got caught two laps down and had our hands tied the rest of the day. We had a car that could have won, if we would have been in the right position. Carl [Edwards] was fast. I think a couple of cars were a little quicker than us. For the most part, it was a good day. Our hands were tied when we got caught two laps down."

YOU HAD AN INCIDENT WITH THE 40 BUT WERE ABLE TO CHECK-UP AND NOT CAUSE ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR FUSION. "Yeah, the 40 spun and we just barely nicked him a little bit. I was able to get it checked-up pretty quick. It's tough racing here. We felt like we had a good car, it was just one of those days that we didn't make a couple of right decisions and we paid for it at the end. It was just a luck deal."

WHAT'S WITH THIS TRACK? LAST YEAR AND ALL THE CAUTIONS AND THIS YEAR WITH SIX LAPS ON THE LEAD LAP. "It's one of the short tracks that we have. You've got a lot of rookies and a lot teams that don't run very often come out and try to run hard. Then you have a few guys that are coming from Atlanta starting in the back. And you have some regulars that are fast. It's a mix of everything but it's a great race track."

***

MARCOS AMBROSE -- No. 59 Kingsford Tailgate at Home Ford Fusion -- (finished 15th, qualified 15th)

"It's just another race where race strategy didn't work out. We'll take 15th. It's not what we came here for, but we'll take it. It was a decent points day. We just didn't get lucky on how the race ran for us. That's the way she goes."

IT WAS A GOOD FINISH CONSIDERING YOUR FIRST LAPS TOOK PLACE ON THE PARADE LAPS. "Yeah, Robert Pressley helped set the car up for us and he did a great job. I feel like he really did us well by giving us a good package."

***

BOBBY HAMILTON JR. -- No. 25 Eckrich Ford Fusion -- (finished 21st, qualified 25th)

"We got caught on the pit stops and that was it. We were a top-12 car. We ran all day long and just got caught under the caution." WHAT HAPPENED HERE AT THE END? "I think the No. 5 [Landon Cassill] just got under there and got me. But that's just part of racing; we'll go on to another week. What can you do? He's a rookie. He'll make mistakes and he'll learn from those mistakes and we've just got to go on. I'm sure you can go ask him, that's what happened. He just got into me on the throttle or whatever. That's good, hard racing. And as long as he knows what hard racing is."

YOU HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY. IS THAT PART OF WHAT SPURNED YOUR REACTION TO THE CONTACT? "No. I went over to make sure he was okay and that his throttle wasn't hanging or nothing. As long as he knows what hard racing is. He's young. He's going to be a great winner, a champion in this sport. As long as he'll learn his lessons and that's what makes a great driver. The lessons that are still to come, he'll learn. It's Memphis, that's why the fans are in the stands."

***

JASON KELLER -- No. 27 Cottonelle Ford Fusion -- (finished 25th, qualified 14th)

"It was a long day. We were just really battling a lot of things. We said coming into this race, we were going to use these races to figure out what we needed to do and what we needed to work on the most. It's disappointing; I will be honest about that. We're in this for the long haul to make it better."

WHAT CAUGHT YOU A LAP DOWN? "We were one of the ones that stayed out. That put the icing on the cake, but we had a lot more issues than that."

-credit: ford racing

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