Carl Edwards qualified 15th for Sunday's MBNA America 400. Credit: Autostock

Edwards ready after red-eye flight from Las Vegas

DOVER, Del. -- Carl Edwards said Sunday morning at Dover that he feels rested and ready to compete in the MBNA America 400.

Quite a feat when you consider the green flag will fly about 15 hours after he took the green flag for the Silverado 350 Craftsman Truck Series race -- three time zones away -- at Las Vegas.

"I feel good," Edwards said. "I think we got here at about 6:30 this morning and parked about a mile away."

Carl Edwards

Dave Blaney was standing by in case Edwards was unable to compete Sunday, but after surviving the mile-long walk to his bed, Edwards knew he was ready to go.

"I was trying not to wake up too much during the walk, so that I could just go to sleep," he said. "It was like when you wake up in the middle of the night and you tell yourself not to wake all the way up so it will be easier to go back to sleep.

"I kind of did the zombie walk over to the motor home and went to sleep around 6:45 and got up at 10 o'clock, and I feel good."

Edwards hopes for a better finish Sunday than he had Saturday night. He lasted just 101 laps before a potentially strong run was ended by a blown engine. Edwards finished 31st

"The motor blew up," Edwards said. "I think we had ourselves set up for a pretty good finish. We had a set of stickers left and I don't think a lot of guys did.

"We were really, really good on stickers and our plan at that point was just to hold our position and drive around to save our tires for that caution, and I think we would have been really good."

In five Nextel Cup Series starts this season, Edwards has three top-10 finishes. sunday will mark his first Nextel Cup Series start at the Monster Mile. He won the pole for the Craftsman Truck Series race here in June and finished 14th.

"It reminds me a lot of driving a half-mile dirt track because of the banking and the way it drives.

"It's a fun track and with each week my comfort level grows."