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.

Jack Roush signs autographs at MIS. Dave Marr photo

Jack Roush has an plan.
But he's not sure he wants NASCAR to follow it.
The owner of Roush Fenway Racing wants the stock-car sanctioning body to inspect and send to a wind tunnel two cars from each manufacturer following each Sprint Cup race.
That way, Roush believes, everyone will know whether Ford, Chevrolet or Toyota has an advantage over the others in important areas like downforce.
"They don't want to introduce a reason why one manufacturer has an advantage," Roush, whose company owns three Ford-backed Sprint Cup teams, said Sunday, explaining why he doesn't think NASCAR will take up his idea.
Competition in Sprint Cup racing is close, Roush said, noting that all three manufacturers placed a car in the front two rows for the start of the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
"I think NASCAR is happy with that," Roush said.
What makes Roush nervous about NASCAR checking out two cars from each manufacturer after each race?
"My fear is that they might do the test and find that Ford is not at a disadvantage," Roush said.

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.