Not an even a gruesome test at Chicagoland Speedway could prove to be any benefit for Roush Fenway Racing on Sunday afternoon.
While Carl Edwards and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. both showed promise with strong practice speeds, when the start of the MyAFIBSTORY.com 400 rolled around, the two drivers faded quickly and the Roush Fenway Racing organization as a whole couldn’t even find themselves contending for a top-10 finish.
Instead, the Concord, North Carolina-team struggled to earn two top-20 runs with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Carl Edwards. Stenhouse Jr., the only non-Chase driver out of the trio proved to have the strongest car of the day, but a late-race incident with his girlfriend, Danica Patrick ruined any hopes of a solid finish.
Meanwhile, for Chase hopeful Greg Biffle, the day was miserable at best. The driver of the No. 16 ScotchBlue Ford Fusion failed to produce speed or finesse of any kind that would give his team even a chance at a decent finish. Instead, Biffle left Chicagoland 23rd, the second-worst of the Chase hopefuls.
“What a battle all day,” said Edwards. “We used up every bit of our track position and our strategy and everything. We had a flat tire and got fortunate that didn’t hurt us, it might have helped us. We have to stay alive. We have to go to Loudon and hopefully our flat short track program is better than this. Then we will take what we learned here to Dover.
“To make this second round we will have to be perfect and have a little bit of luck,” Edwards continued. “Our day was not good. We’ve got to be a little faster and we have to continue to have good luck. For us to advance we are going to have to rely on other people making some mistakes. All the while we are looking for more speed from our Fastenal Ford and if we can do that I think we will be alright but we have to stay afloat.”
And (just) how bad was Biffle’s day? He chose to leave Chicagoland Speedway without comment.
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