Charlotte Notebook
Oct. 6, 2016
Notebook Items:
·
Carl Edwards expects JGR cars to close the gap on Martin Truex Jr.
·
Austin Dillon embraces underdog role
·
Short Strokes
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
Carl Edwards expects JGR cars to close the gap on Martin Truex Jr.
CONCORD,
N.C. – Carl Edwards and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates have high
expectations in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup – if only they can
catch a certain “rabbit.”
The
hare in question is Martin Truex Jr., who drives the No. 78 Furniture
Row Racing Toyota, which maintains a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs
Racing, and like JGR, gets its
engines from Toyota Racing Development (TRD).
Truex
won two of the three races in the Chase’s Round of 16 and,
appropriately, has earned the designation as favorite for this year’s
championship. Even though Truex finished
7.527 seconds ahead of JGR’s Kyle Busch last Sunday at Dover, Edwards
says the JGR cars aren’t far behind.
And,
ostensibly at least, the unfettered sharing of information between
Gibbs drivers Edwards, Busch, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin and the
Furniture Row team has continued into
the Chase.
“If
we didn’t know what engines and chassis and setups those guys had, it’d
be really easy to say they’ve got something – they’ve got something
special that we don’t have – but
knowing what they have and knowing what they’re able to do with it,
that’s a motivator,” Edwards said on Thursday at Charlotte Motor
Speedway.
“And
I’ve been telling people this week I really believe you’re going to see
the other four JGR cars – the four JGR cars – really step it up,
because Martin is that… he’s that
rabbit out there that we’re all chasing. We know it can be done, and I
think, in the end, that’s a gift to have somebody in your camp or close
to you that can do that.”
AUSTIN DILLON EMBRACES UNDERDOG ROLE
It
doesn’t matter to Austin Dillon that Las Vegas oddsmakers have made him
a 50-to-1 shot to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship, by far
the longest odds among the
12 remaining drivers.
After
finishing eighth last Sunday at Dover and earning the final transfer
spot from the Chase’s Round of 16, Dillon believes his No. 3 Richard
Childress Racing Chevrolet has
the speed to pull off a surprise in the Round of 12.
“Well,
we have the least odds in Vegas right now – I just heard that,” Dillon
said on Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “I like this role, because
it puts the pressure on
the guys that I guess are projected to make it to the next round,
whatever projections mean.
“Because
in racing, I’ve learned real quick that it’s not like any other sport…
You just never know what can happen in a race, and you never know what
the outcomes… there is
so much that goes into every little piece and part of these cars.
“I’m
confident in the company I drive for with RCR and the people around me,
myself also, that we can make strong finishes, and that is what I’m
confident about. I love the underdog
role, because that makes when we do knock people out, it’s going to be
fulfilling.”
For
the record, Kevin Harvick is the Vegas favorite to win the Chase at
7-to-2 odds (per vegasinsider.com). Martin Truex Jr. is second at 4-to-1
and Jimmie Johnson third at 6-to-1.
SHORT STROKES
Katelyn
Sweet, girlfriend of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Larson, won
Thursday’s 25-lap Better Half Dash at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which
raised more than $70,000 for
charity. Paige White, girlfriend of 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
champion Brad Keselowski, finished second, with Hayley Dillon, wife of
NASCAR XFINITY Series driver Ty Dillon, running third despite spinning
twice…
Charlotte-based
Maaco, a collision and repair company, has signed on with Furniture Row
Racing as an associate sponsor on Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 78 Toyota for
Saturday night’s
Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Truex led a
NASCAR-record 588-of-600 miles in winning the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte
in May. In Saturday night’s race, he goes for his third victory in four
Chase races, having triumphed at Chicagoland and Dover
in the Chase’s Round of 16.
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