Carl Edwards

Carl Edwards ran 21 NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Michigan International Speedway for car owner Jack Roush.
But Edwards, who drove a Ford all those years with Roush, is in his first season in a Toyota with Joe Gibbs Racing.
"It is a little strange to come here to this race and not be driving for Jack Roush, because we put so much emphasis on this event for so many years," Edwards, driver of the No. 19 Arris Camry, said Friday at MIS. "There's always been a lot of pride driving for Jack here."
Roush has businesses based in Livonia.
"I can tell you this: To win this race would be really special for me now just because I know from the other side how much everyone prepares -- Jack and the other teams," Edwards said. "For the domestic car manufacturers, this is their backyard. They bring their best stuff. For me to win in a Toyota would be really special here."
Edwards won two Sprint Cup races at MIS for Roush.

Carl Edwards leads current Ford drivers with two NASCAR Sprint Cup victories at Pocono Raceway, where the series runs this weekend.

Edwards, who is leaving Roush Fenway Racing and the No. 99 Ford at the end of the season, won on "the tricky triangle" in 2005 and 2008.

Greg Biffle, who drives the No. 16 Ford, won in 2010; Brad Keselowski won in a Dodge in 2011, and Joey Logano won in a Toyota in 2012. 

Keselowski (Rochester Hills) and Logano are Team Penske teammates in the Nos. 2 and 22 Fords, respectively.

The GoBowling.com 400 starts at 1 p.m. Sunday at Pocono.

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Drivers from Roush Fenway Racing won five of nine NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Michigan International Speedway in a stretch that ended with Carl Edwards taking the checkered flag in August 2008.

Matt Kenseth

Since then, the team built by Livonia industrialist Jack Roush is in a dry spell in the Irish Hills.
RFR has not won in the last seven races at MIS.
Is that a source of consternation for the team of Ford drivers?
"Not necessarily for me, but maybe for Jack because it is close to Livonia where he has done all his work and Roush Industries and Ford and all that," Matt Kenseth said Friday. "For me, it isn't any more or less than any other good track that we go to. It has been one of our better tracks through the years, so whenever you go to the tracks that you perform better at than others, you want to try to take advantage of that."
Kenseth, who drives the No. 17, has won twice at MIS, most recently in August 2006.
Edwards, driver of the No. 99, achieved his first MIS victory in June 2007.
He said the 2011 repaving of the track might make an already competitive track a more difficult place to get an edge.
"Before, it seemed like when the track was rough and worn out that guys that could hang the cars out a little, like Greg Biffle or guys with big horsepower, and run really well," Edwards, who qualified second, said.
"I can tell you this: When we are in Victory Lane, of all the ones I have been in, I have never seen Jack happier than the one here at Michigan."
Kenseth qualified fourth. Greg Biffle, the other Roush Fenway driver, qualified 13th in the No. 16.
MIS race winners since the last Roush Fenway triumph: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin (twice), Kevin Harvick, Brian Vickers and Mark Martin.

Carl Edwards and Jeff Gordon, two prominent NASCAR drivers who need to win a race to enhance their Sprint Cup playoff chances, will start back in the pack Sunday in the Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono Raceway.
Edwards qualified 17th and Gordon 27th on Saturday as Juan Pablo Montoya captured the pole position with the No. 42 Chevrolet.
Montoya's lap speed was 176.043 mph. He will be seeking his first race victory of the season.
Denny Hamlin will join Montoya on the front row in the No. 11 Toyota.
Edwards (No. 99 Ford) is 12th and Gordon (No. 24 Chevy) 15th in points.