Edwards Tests Silver Crown Car
Carl Edwards took his first laps in a new-generation USAC Silver Crown car Monday in testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The NEXTEL Cup Series competitor – who is also a car owner in the Silver Crown ranks – had one seven of the new cars on hand preparing for the March 28 event at Homestead-Miami Speedway, during the Toyota Indy 300/Grand Prix of Miami weekend. That event will be the first race for the series on a 1.5-mile speedway.
Among the drivers also testing were Dave Steele and Shane Hmeil, in the No. 1 C&R; Bryn Gohn, No. 8 DRC; No. 21 C&R, Brian Tyler; No. 26 Riley, Aaron Pierce and Thiago Medeiros; No. 96 Stealth, Rodney Weesner; and No. 00 Stealth, Wayne Reutimann Jr.
Edwards had finished 16th in Sunday’s Budweiser Shootout at Daytona, but flew to Homestead Monday morning to “relax” on his day off.
“This is a whole new thing – it’s different,” Edwards said after making two runs in the No. 99 C&R Ford. “I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to get a feel for it.”
Edwards co-owns the car with Roger Johnson. Jerry Coons drove the car in the season opener at Phoenix. The team is undecided on who will drive the car at Homestead, but tested young Canadian Peter Shepherd in the car on Monday. Shepherd was part of Roush Racing’s “Racer X” series, where he finished fifth.
“Right now, it’s pretty wild with these new cars,” Edwards said. “They’re real fast. We’re going to keep working on them. By the end of the day, we hope to have a good feel for this track, and know what direction to take for when we come back. The car feels a lot alike the old Silver Crown cars. The difference for me right now is running on this big race track. This is an awfully big race track compared to what we’ve run the Silver Crown cars on before.”
While Edwards unofficially had the fastest lap of the day – 31.86 seconds, 169.8 mph – Hmeil was close behind, at 31.93.
“I respect Carl Edwards’ driving and his skill, and for him to say it’s pretty scary out there is pretty good,” Hmeil said. “I’m excited. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time is to run Silver Crown cars, and now they’re at bigger tracks and with bigger crowds. It’s something that I think is going to grow. It’s something I’m proud to be associated with.”
Steele won the only race for the new generation car in the season-opening Copper World Classic at Phoenix International Raceway. He left the test early to compete in a winged sprint car race at New Smyrna Speedway in Samsula, Florida – where he had won a race Sunday night. After he left the test, Shane Hmeil tested in Steele’s No. 1 car.
“This is definitely a nice track,” said Steele, visiting Homestead-Miami Speedway for the first time. “It’s a little different from the short track stuff I’m used to. I’m going to run around and get in a few laps, trying to get comfortable. I think USAC has some issues with the car they need to deal with, so I’ll try to give them some feedback and see how it goes.”
Edwards was not the only to race at Daytona on Sunday and test at Homestead on Monday. Tyler competed in Sunday morning’s ARCA 200. He was racing with the lead draft but lost a lap after he was bumped into the wall. He came back and chased eventual winner Bobby Gerhart, but could not get his lap back and finished 22nd.
“This is like a combination of the old car and a stock car,” said Tyler, the pole winner and third-place finisher in the season opener at Phoenix. “We’re searching for a shock and spring package, and find the attitude of what the car likes. Right now, the front end is stuck and the rear end wants to be loose. We need to find a happy balance.” Edwards agreed.
“Right now, it’s a little bit uncomfortable going into the corners at the fastest point of the race track, and we can’t tell what’s making it do that. We’re working on that.”
The Silver Crown race will be one of four events during the March 24-26 weekend, joining the IRL IndyCar Series, Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve and IRL Indy Pro Series
