Carl Edwards is scheduled to compete in this weekend’s Pikes Peak-Pocono doubleheader, hoping to have as much success in the first leg of the 1,700-mile journey as Roush Racing teammate Greg Biffle enjoyed a year ago.
Biffle, driving for the same team as Edwards’ current crew, won last year’s Busch Series race at Pikes Peak International Raceway from the rear of the 43-car field. He missed qualifying at the 1-mile oval in Fountain to qualify his Cup car at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa.
This year, Edwards is scheduled to make the Busch race the priority. He plans to participate in PPIR qualifying that begins at 4:30 p.m. Friday and compete in Saturday’s race, scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. Under that scenario, he would miss Cup qualifying, pegged for 10:10 a.m. (MDT) Saturday.
Edwards will have plenty of time to return to Pocono for Sunday’s Cup race.
“Right now our plan is to practice the (Cup car) in Pocono and then fly to Colorado to hopefully qualify the Charter Ford, and then of course race on Saturday at Pikes Peak,” Edwards said. “After the race on Saturday, I’ll head back to Pocono.”
Edwards, 25, is 12th in the Cup standings and fourth in the Busch points despite missing one race.
He missed the June 12 race at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway when the event was postponed a day because of rain. Edwards already was committed to competing in the Pocono 500 on the same day, which he won.
“This year has been a blast,” he said. “I really love to race, and to be able to race in both the Busch and Cup series is great.”
Edwards has three Busch wins, second to points leader Martin Truex Jr. Edwards and Truex are tied with a series-best 10 top-10 finishes.
Edwards never has competed at PPIR but tested there a few weeks ago. Former Busch driver Hank Parker Jr., who won the 2002 Busch race at Pikes Peak, will make practice laps in Edwards’ car and qualify it should Edwards’ schedule change.
PPIR distinctive
Busch driver Stanton Barrett has always viewed Pikes Peak – the highest superspeedway in America – as a distinctive track. But the altitude isn’t the only thing making it stand out this year.
“This might be the only race in the series where it takes longer to say the race name than it does to run the whole 250 miles,” Barrett joked.
Saturday’s race is officially called “The ITT Industries Systems Division & Goulds Pump Salute To The Troops 250 Presented By Dodge.”
“I can’t blame the speedway,” Barrett said. “But to get all of that on the side of the car, we’d need to race stretch limos.”
Footnotes
Barrett, 32, joined NASCAR from Hollywood. He was a stunt driver and has appeared in more than 100 movies, including “Spider-Man 2” and “The Dukes of Hazzard,” scheduled to be released next month. … For information about Saturday’s race at PPIR, call 888-306-RACE.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
