Martin impressed by Edwards
Mark Martin didn’t wait long to predict greatness for the youngster Jack Roush signed to drive in NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck series.
Martin told the world that Carl Edwards was already anointed as the driver who would step into the No. 6 Ford when the longtime Roush Racing star retired. Roush said he agreed, although he didn’t want to put undue pressure on the young driver.
He needn’t have worried. The kid appears up to the task.
When Jeff Burton’s No. 99 car foundered in 2004, Roush decided not to wait for Martin’s departure, moving the precocious Edwards, then 24, into the Nextel Cup Series ahead of schedule. He drove 13 races last season in Cup and is racing full-time in both Cup and the Busch Series this year, getting all the seat time and experience he can.
Martin is delighted. Now the veteran gets to race against Edwards as he goes through his final full season in Cup.
Last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Martin watched Edwards do something no other NASCAR driver has ever done: win his first race in both Busch and Cup on the same weekend.
“Carl Edwards is a great race car driver and a great person,” Martin said. “I sat in the media center after the Busch race at Las Vegas and I told everyone that I felt he would win a Cup race this season and I guess he made me look pretty good.”
Martin was particularly proud of the way Edwards bounced back from the disappointment of two weeks earlier in Las Vegas, when he was well on his way to his first Busch win before a blown tire with 15 laps remaining sent him spinning off the track. Martin wound up winning the race.
“I realize and can identify with what Carl was able to accomplish last weekend,” Martin said. “He got the biggest win of his career through grit and determination on Saturday, after suffering a disappointment the week before in the Busch race. I can sure identify with all of that.
“There’s no doubt that type of weekend is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. And to have him come back and win surely on grit and a ton of determination on Sunday, with such an exciting finish, it’s just amazing.”
Martin, the sentimental favorite to win the 2005 Cup championship, isn’t doing too badly himself.
After bouncing back from a 30th-place finish in the Vegas Cup race with a fourth-place run in Atlanta, Martin, a four-time series runner-up, has three top 10s in the first four races and is fifth in the points standings.
“We know what the No. 6 team is capable of and we’re running very well,” Martin said. “Hopefully, we can keep it going all year.”
Driver development
Hendrick Motorsports has extended its developmental alliance with Bobby Gerhart Racing, which will enter 19-year-old Kyle Krisiloff in 12 ARCA stock car races this season.
Hendrick will continue to provide engines to the team.
Krisiloff, the grandson of Indianapolis Motor Speedway chairman Mari Hulman George, began his professional racing career in open-wheel cars but moved to stock cars last year as part of Hendrick’s driver development initiative.
He ran four ARCA events last year and came up with three top-10 finishes, including a win at Chicagoland Speedway and a runner-up performance at Nashville.
In all, the Gerhart-prepared Chevrolet shared by Krisiloff and other top prospects Blake Feese and Boston Reid had two wins and nine top-10 finishes in 10 races.
Stat of the week
Four races into the NASCAR Nextel Cup season, Chevrolet and Ford are deadlocked for the lead in the Manufacturers Championship.
Monte Carlos and Tauruses have each won twice so far – two victories for Hendrick Motorsports and two for Roush Racing, respectively.
The top finish for the new Dodge Charger was a fourth-place run by Jamie McMurray at California Speedway in the second race of the season.
Chevrolet, which tops the series with 28 titles, has won the Manufacturers Championship the past two years, although Ford drivers Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch have won the drivers crown.