Phoenix II: Ford teams race notes, quotes

EDWARDS SWEEPS PHOENIX WEEKEND WITH CUP VICTORY

* Carl Edwards captured his 17th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win with today's victory.

* The Cup win was the first for Edwards since he won at Homestead in the final race of 2008 (70 races).

* Edwards was first in all three Cup practice sessions, in addition to winning the pole and race this weekend.

* The last time a Ford driver swept a Nationwide/Cup weekend was in October 2008 when Edwards won the Nationwide race in Memphis and Sprint Cup event in Atlanta.

* The win was the 119th all-time NSCS win for Roush Fenway Racing.

* Today's win was the 598th all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win for Ford Racing.

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CARL EDWARDS - No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion - VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW

"It's so cool to be able to go up there and celebrate with the fans. That was really nice. I saw them unlocking the gate, that was very cool. I've got to thank Scott's, Kellogg's - I ate my Frosted Mini-Wheats this morning - Subway, when they gave me five to go I gave them the footlong - just everybody - Cessna Citation Service Centers and everybody for sticking with us. It's been a long drought. It's been really hard to keep our confidence up and this is what we needed."

YOU DID IT ON A SWEEP WEEKEND.  "It's unreal.  It's so neat.
 It still doesn't feel like this really happened.  We needed this win.
 This is very special.  Once again, thank you Aflac.  I really
appreciate it.  It's just unreal and thanks to the fans."

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GREG BIFFLE - No. 16 3M Ford Fusion (Finished 4th)

"We weren't that good, but the fuel mileage worked out for us at the end. We had a top-10 car, but we want to be better than that so we'll keep working on it. Hopefully, we'll run a little bit better in the spring and then they're gonna repave it."

HOW DID PIT STRATEGY WORK OUT FOR YOU? "We were planning on coming to get tires and there were only five cars behind us, so we came and got some tires."

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MATT KENSETH - No. 17 Valvoline Ford Fusion (Finished 7th)

"We probably ran as good or better than our finish. We came and got two tires so we could make it on fuel there at the end and left a nut off the right-rear and had to come back and pit. We started behind all the lapped cars and never got another caution, so we just had to fight all those lapped cars and used our tires up. Some people had to pit at the end, so we got a decent finish, but we ran pretty good. I think if we wouldn't have had to come back in, we probably had a top two or three car. The 16 finished fourth and we were ahead of all those guys, so I thought we would have been OK."

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DAVID RAGAN - No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion (Finished 25th)

"We just didn't start the race out that great today. Our UPS team had good pit stops and made good adjustments, but our car was just better at the end than it was in the beginning. In traffic, we just didn't have it right and we were all over the board setup-wise. This is one of our toughest tracks on the schedule and we know that. We'll just have to take a look at this race, Loudon and Richmond, which are some of my favorite tracks, but we just don't run quite as quickly as we should at these places. I'm looking forward to going to Homestead where I think we can contend for the win, and I'm proud of everyone today."

-source: ford racing