Carl Edwards

Carl: (Talking about beating Micheal Schumacher at the Race of Champions in London, England) [Beating Schumacher] meant a lot to me. I don't know if it should or not, but it did. I was not necessarily a Michael Schumacher fan because I didn't watch a lot of Formula One when he was racing, but my trainer, Dean -- who was with me -- is a huge Michael Schumacher fan so I hear a lot about him. When they told me I was going, they said they'd do their best to get me in a race with Schumacher, and Dean was so excited it got me excited. We got through our first races and I thought 'here's my chance -- I get to see where I really stack up.' The neatest part, that I'll never forget, is when we rolled out from under the grandstands, to where you are before you get on the track. I was going back and forth really hard, warming up my tires, and I could see Michael look in his mirror and he started going back and forth, doing burnouts as we warmed up our tires and brakes.I didn't give him a lot of room -- I kind of forced him to have less room, so we're back there playing mind games with each other. We both wanted to win pretty badly. Then we got out there and got to racing and just to be able to beat him -- I don't know if he missed a shift and he didn't get as much practice in that car as I did. But just to see how excited Dean was, was cool.

Carl: (Talking about his strong finish by winning the last race of the season in the Nationwide Series by beating Kyle Bush but missing the title by 21 points behind Clint Bowyer) That's a great win, to hold off the 18 [Busch], as strong as he's been all season. If I've got to get beat by somebody, a dirt racer from Emporia, Kan., [Bowyer's hometown] is one of the best. But we'll be back next year, and I hope Clint will, too. There's no shame in giving 100 percent and finishing second. That's all we could do.

Carl: (Talking about one of his main rivals, Kyle Bush, racing full-time in the Nationwide Series in 2009) That'll be fun. ( grinning) Kyle's an unreal competitor and those [Gibbs] guys are good. But I'll tell you what -- I couldn't be more excited.

Carl: (Talking about his choice to run the Nationwide Series and the Sprint Cup Series) I really enjoy running both series. It's a great thing for me and I don't know what else I'd do on Saturday. I get bored really easily so it's a great thing [because] I get to be around a lot of great people and great drivers and have a chance at a championship.

Carl: (Talking about the 2008 season) The only thing about second is it's better than third. That's really all you can say. We all go out here to win, and the feeling of victory and achievement is so huge that second is not [pleasurable]. It's satisfying that we performed so well, but getting second really doesn't mean a lot.

Carl: (Talking about the Race of Champions he participated in. The race was held in London, England on 12/14/08 to 12/15/08.) It's amazing, it feels like I've won a championship. I'll never forget that moment as long as I live -- just the chance to be able to race with [Schumacher], and fortunately to be able to beat him.

Carl: (Talking about the new car that was run the full schedule for the first time in 2008) This [new] car, there's a smaller window to get it perfect, and I know that it's not always the driver, it's how your crew chief sets the thing up and how you guys relate during practice and things like that, and I think that's just as important as how you drive it. Every racer all around the country -- racing at a local dirt track, wherever -- there's nothing worse than not knowing if it's a guy's car that's beating you or if it's that driver, I think NASCAR has done a good job of making these cars -- putting you in such a tight box that you really feel like you're racing crew chief to crew chief, driver to driver. It's good competition.

Carl: Jimmie (Johnson), what he's done, I think not only is good for him, it's good for the sport to have a guy who can do that and have those kinds of results. As much as I can be, I'm happy for him. He's a good guy, he deserves it, We didn't mess up. Jimmie (Johnson) just was perfect. ... By most measures [our year] was great, but we set out this season to win two championships and we came up a little bit short. ... At least we can rest well knowing that we had these guys nervous a little bit at the end.

Carl: (Talking about his 2nd place finish in the 2008 standings) Standing there in Victory Lane at Homestead, you look across the racetrack and see those guys celebrating and you say, 'Oh man, that could have been us if we had just done a couple of things differently.' That's motivating.

Carl: (Talking about his 2008 season) We all go out here to win, and the feeling of victory and achievement is so huge that second is not [pleasurable]. It's satisfying that we performed so well, but getting second really doesn't mean a lot.

Carl: (Talking about his second favorite passion) It's the neatest thing in the world to fly a 60-year-old airplane (A 1946 Piper Cub) in over the trees and land it in the middle of a bean field. I've got a friend who's got a farm near where I live, and we went out and made a landing strip in one of his fields.

Carl: (After winning the 3M Performance 400 race Sunday 8/17/08) The key was my crew. We're winning races, we're gearing up for the Chase, and we're feeling stronger than ever. We're here to win a championship. That's what we're here for. The key is keeping Kyle (Bush) from getting those bonus points.

Carl: Bonus points are key. Any points you can get, I mean the championship can be won by one point, so bonus points are the deal for us right now.

Carl: (After his win at the Autoclub 500 in Fontana, CA) I hope this is a sign of how our season is going to go. If there's one thing that we've learned is that we've got to stay on top of it. We've got to keep working just as hard as we have. There are very minor differences between the cars that are winning these races and the cars that are running fifth or sixth. We've got to just keep on top of it. It's a great way to start and I hope it keeps going like this.