Stenhouse explains feelings for Edwards, one-finger salute Edwards gave him at Iowa

It was quite a finish last weekend at Iowa where Carl Edwards crashed into the back of Ricky Stenhouse after Stenhouse’s engine blew just short of the finish line. Edwards slammed into the rear of Stenhouse’s car and pushed Stenhouse across the line.

(Check out the finish of the race here and then go to about the 3:25 mark where you can hear Edwards tell Stenhouse's crew chief  “I love the guy,’’ referring to Stenhouse, and Stenhouse’s crew chief telling him: “Let him know because he thinks you hate him.’’)

But it’s what happened during the race that had some people talking. It was the way the two Roush Fenway Racing teammates ran each other. They treated each other as if they weren’t teammates.

Stenhouse was among a few drivers at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Tuesday promoting that track’s fall schedule of races and talked about the finish and Edwards. As of the interview early Tuesday afternoon, Stenhouse said he had not yet talked to Edwards although he expected to do so. He said Edwards told him he would call.

Q: It appeared you were pretty mad in the car at Iowa

STENHOUSE: “I was mad. I wasn’t mad that he ran into us coming off of turn 4. It goes a little deeper than that. He gave me the finger going down the backstraightaway and that’s kind of what fired me up. We’ll handle it. It was hard racing. We’ll talk about it. He thinks I’m maybe a little too aggressive, but I think coming from sprint cars, that’s just my style, that’s just how I raced.’’

Q: What about your crew chief saying you think Edwards hates you

STENHOUSE: “That might be a little bit much. Carl has helped me out in my career. It’s good racing with him. I don’t think, as of late he’s had a Nationwide car in our company be up there competing with him. Right now we’ve got three Nationwide cars that are all really fast. I think it’s just a product of everybody running hard and running up front. It gets a little frustrating sometimes.’’

Q: You’re running for a championship and Edwards isn’t, does that make it tougher to swallow that gets into you and could cost you a title?

STENHOUSE: “I really wasn’t thinking about the championship at that point. My crew chief reminded me that we were racing for a championship. I didn’t have a problem with him getting into us. I think that’s part of racing. We’ve all done it growing up. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to win. At that moment I think we had the fastest race car and for him to get back by us and start leading some more laps, he did what he had to do. It worked out for him. I kind of leaned on him going back by, so it’s just something that happens in racing. It makes it good for the fans.’’

Q: Do you look at what Edwards did differently from what Brad Keselowski did to you at Indy because one is a teammate and one isn’t?

STENHOUSE:  “In the Brad deal at Indianapolis, I was mad, but I really wasn’t mad that he ran us up the race track. Like I said, when you don’t have the fastest car, you have to do something to win and Brad did what he had to do to win. I was just more mad that we didn’t win. I wasn’t mad about how it happened. I think that’s part of racing. If I was in Brad’s situation, I would have done the same thing. But teammate? I know Jack would probably say that is a little much.’’

COMMENTS ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here; comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its websites. Users must follow agreed-upon rules: Be civil, be clean, be on topic; don't attack private individuals, other users or classes of people. Read the full rules here.
- Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the report violation link below it.