1on1: Carl Edwards

Carl Edwards failed to repeat as winner of the LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway last Sunday, but he did put together another solid seventh-place finish to remain fourth in the points standings heading into this Sunday's race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

NASCAR.COM caught up to The Carl in Michigan and talked about why it is so important to run well there for all Ford drivers, about how his physical-fitness regime helps him during races, about how he feels about road-course racing, among other subjects.

Q: You've been successful at Michigan previously. Why is it so important to do well in the backyard of the Big Three manufacturers -- not only Ford, but Chevrolet and Chrysler?

More on The Carl

Did you know? You could call him Junior, too? He's actually Carl Edwards Jr., named after his father.

More on Pops: His father, Carl "Mike" Edwards, has been racing modified stock cars and USAC midgets for four decades, accumulating more than 200 feature wins at tracks throughout the Midwest.

Junior's start: Carl Edwards Jr. began his driving career relatively late by today's standards, beginning in 1993 at the age of 13, driving four-cylinder mini-sprints.

Training cycle: Edwards credits much of his success to staying in superb shape, and varies his rigorous weekly workout routine according to the demands of each track he is about to visit.

Edwards: It's real big. I took a trip to Ford Motor Company [last week] with all the drivers -- all the Ford drivers and owners -- and spoke with Jim Farley [group vice president of marketing and communications]. It was one of the most interesting experiences I've had on the business side of this sport. In fact, it's the most interesting I've had.

We're at a point right now in America and with these car companies in Detroit, Jim Farley explained to us, where this has to be the turning in the way we do business, the way Americans look at where they're buying cars. There has to be a paradigm shift. People have to understand that if they don't go out and research the best they can and drive these cars and support the car manufacturers that have been in America historically that things are going to change, and they might not change for the best.

Q: So the meeting with the Ford folks was educational as well as motivational?

Edwards: We definitely came out of it with a renewed spirit of camaraderie among the Ford drivers. Definitely. And with a new feeling of responsibility on my part to carry the Ford banner, to try to help them with the changes that they're making, creating compact cars that people believe in. Because the bottom line is gas is unaffordable right now, and we have to offer them products that they believe in.

And that's what Ford's focus is right now. It's a huge shift from where it's been. That's why it's very important for us to run well in Michigan, and I think it's real important to have those educational meetings like the one we had [last week].

Q: With the way gas prices are soaring, do you think it will affect the Sprint Cup Series even more significantly than it already has?

Edwards: Oh, yeah. Gas prices are going to affect everyone. It goes back to the meeting we had at Ford, and how Jim Farley laid everything out. This is just the bottom line. It was a really straight-forward, brutally honest meeting.

And gas prices are not just going to affect the grandstands and from the spectator's side. It could have a huge effect on the manufacturers in the sport -- a bigger effect than I ever imagined. So what we have to do is focus. Me, in my job, I need to make people realize that the products that Ford Motor Company makes are definitely competitive and probably better than some of the other manufacturers, some of the other products that are being bought. So I have to go out and make sure to educate people and make them understand that if they buy these products from Ford Motor Company or GM or Chrysler, they're really helping keep the sport the way it is." (Continued)