Edwards on state of Ford: 'We just aren't fast enough'

LONG POND, Pa. -- Greg Biffle came to Pocono Raceway this weekend expecting a burst of performance akin to leaving a 100-mile tunnel, but instead he -- and the rest of his Ford teammates -- have taken a virtual knockout punch.

What's even worse is it's not the first one as, for the second consecutive year Ford's Sprint Cup performance pales in relation to the manufacturers with which it's competing -- despite having three teams currently in Chase-qualified positions.

On Friday, Carl Edwards, who two years ago led the Cup Series with nine victories -- but who hasn't won since the 2008 Homestead finale -- was asked about remaining upbeat in the face of a growing feeling of frustration in the Ford camp.

"Here is the deal," Edwards said after taking a breath. "Roush Fenway and the Ford race cars are not as fast as we need to be right now. Ford as a company is doing great. I feel we can all be proud of Ford as an American company and what they're producing and the jobs they're providing -- especially the products they're producing [but] what we need to do is just be faster."

As Ford continues to transition to its new FR9 racing engine, Pocono was the latest proof of the blue oval's current shortcomings. No more than two Fords were on any of the practice or qualifying time sheets and perhaps even worse, there was no consistency among the drivers who were, as four different men made the top 15s.

In the opening practice Friday, A.J. Allmendinger's No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports car was fifth and teammate Kasey Kahne's No. 9 was 13th. In Friday's qualifying Kahne was ninth and Roush Fenway Racing's Matt Kenseth was 15th.

Saturday's two race practices were even worse, as Biffle's No. 16 Roush Fenway car was 13th and Kenseth's 14th in the opening session. Kahne's car was the only Ford in the top 16 positions in Happy Hour.

"We are [slow] -- we're struggling a little bit," Biffle said Saturday afternoon after debriefing in his hauler with crew chief Greg Erwin, which included a couple of visits from Roush Yates engine tuner Mike Messick. "We ran good at Charlotte, I think, as a group; so it seems like you see the light at the end of the tunnel and somebody just whacks you with a bat.

"I thought we'd be better here and I was really optimistic to come here because we'd run good here all the time -- but we're just not that good here [this weekend] and I just don't know why. We're in [the hauler] scratching our heads."

A year ago, Ford's showing at Pocono was marginally better in numbers, but grossly better in performance. Three Fords were in the top 15 in Practice 1 and four were in the top 13 in the only Saturday practice. In the race itself, Edwards led the most laps and finished second while the top four Ford finishers all led laps and were in the top 16.

But now it's 2010 and, while Kenseth (third), Biffle (ninth) and Edwards (11th) are all in Chase-qualified positions, Edwards has led only two laps all season -- 13 races' worth. Biffle and Kenseth have each led in five races and Kahne in four, which included a dominant performance at Atlanta. But it comes back to a glaring fact, according to Edwards.

"People ask me all different ways about that, but the point is we just aren't fast enough," Edwards said. "We all know that and yes, it's very important, I believe, for everyone to stay upbeat and keep working and do the best you can. We can't let the frustration snowball and make things worse [and] that's probably one of the toughest things as a human is when things aren't going well, to keep your head up and press on.

"Matt ran really well last week [at Charlotte], Greg has been running really well. The bottom line is we have to be faster and being upbeat is the way to go. Keeping your head down and kicking the gravel isn't going to do anything."

But you can be realistic and Kenseth's become a master of that -- by necessity as last season he missed his first Chase since it was conceived in 2004. He was leaving the garage by a back way Saturday when he was intercepted. He giggled when asked about Edwards' contention of the Fords' speed.

"You're just noticing that?" Kenseth said. "We haven't won a race in a year-and-a-half [and] I've probably said we weren't fast enough, about everywhere. I don't even know where to go with that -- but we're a lot better than we were last year, when we were God-awful."

The uncertainty of what to do and what it'll lead to glares a bit more as the series prepares to head to Michigan next weekend -- a track where Roush Fenway Fords have won seven of the past 15 races, including two each by Biffle and Edwards and one by Kenseth.

"I would anticipate we're gonna run good there -- I really would," Biffle said, before he cocked his head. "But the same goes and I would have said we'd run good here. But Michigan's a more straightforward race track. [Pocono] is really odd and unique and we could never get our car all together." (Continued)