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EDWARDS EYES “J.D. BYRIDER 100” AT O.R.P.
Carl Edwards has won races in NASCAR’s Nextel Cup, Busch and Craftsman Truck Series and he’s hoping to add a victory in USAC’s Silver Crown Championship Series presented by K & N Engineering when the series returns to O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis for the “J.D. Byrider 100” July 26. The Columbia, Mo. driver will pilot his RE Technologies Hoosier Tire C & R/Ford in the 100-lap race on the .686-mile paved oval, the opening event of O.R.P.’s “Kroger Speedfest.”
Edwards has 14 career USAC Silver Crown starts and last year finished a close second after spinning while attempting to pass race winner Brian Tyler for the lead at O.R.P. He was also third at O.R.P. in 2003 and sixth in 2002. The car he will drive at O.R.P. is leading the USAC Silver Crown Car Owner standings after posting four “top-five” finishes in six races this season. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the series opener at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix, Ariz. to give the team its initial Silver Crown victory.
The 2005 NASCAR Busch Series “Rookie of the Year” hopes to do his patented “backflip” after the July 26 race but he’ll face serious challenges from several contenders, including series point leader Wayne Reutimann Jr. and defending race winner Tyler.
Reutimann has a 22-point lead over defending series champion Bud Kaeding, while A.J. Fike is third in the standings and Cameron Dodson fourth. Ironically, none of the top four has tasted victory this year! Reutimann, who scored his initial series victory last year at Milwaukee, WIsc., has a second and a third this year, while Kaeding, has a pair of fourths and a pair of sixths. Fike has two fourths and a fifth and Dodson has two thirds and a fourth.
Dodson, who has been driving Edwards’ car so far this season, will compete in a C & R/Chevy entered by PDM Racing, whose 2006 driver was Brazil’s Thiago Medeiros.
This year’s Silver Crown action has been unpredictable with six different winners in six races, including Stenhouse, Tracy Hines, Bobby East, Aaron Pierce, Tyler and J.J. Yeley.
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