Edwards hopes past AMS success carries into Sunday

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Atlanta Motor Speedway's asphalt surface is bumpy and abrasive, but for Carl Edwards, it's almost perfect.

Edwards finished third in his first Cup Series visit to the place in 2004, won his first race there the following year and visited Victory Lane the last time NASCAR's premier series was here. So he has a special place in his heart for AMS.

"The track is real slippery," Edwards said. "It's pretty wild. That's fun, though. I like this place when it's like that.

"It's a track that you can run three-wide on, but, at the same time the car moves around quite a bit. It's totally different from a place like Charlotte or Las Vegas, where the car is really nailed down. You can get a little aggressive with the wheel here. It's fun."

In Saturday's final tuneup for the Kobalt Tools 500, Edwards showed why he's among the favorites, despite having to start 29th on Sunday. His No. 99 Ford was clocked at 179.522 mph, easily topping the charts. Edwards was followed by Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch and Roush Racing teammate Jamie McMurray. Pole-sitter Mark Martin was ninth.

The session was completed with no major incidents.

Edwards seemed well on his way to victory here last spring, but was sidelined by engine troubles. That was also the case last weekend at Las Vegas, but Edwards isn't concerned that this constitutes a trend.

"No, the engine isn't a worry for me this week just because last week the problems were things that just happened with engines," Edwards said. "It wasn't something, I don't think, that's necessarily gonna show up again. It's not like a problem we're looking into overall or anything." (Continued)