March 4, 2005

Friday in Mexico was a crash fest for the NASCAR Busch Series as car after car crashed on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez  track made famous by Formula One and Champ Car. In the end, as always happens in NASCAR, the right man came up fastest on the NASCAR timing system, local hero Adrian Fernandez.

The latest to crash was Carl Edwards.

After leading the first Busch Series practice in a foreign country, Edwards had an eventful second session. First, he misjudged a corner and slid off the course. No harm, no foul, and he returned to the track. Edwards was following a car he said was Kim Crosby through the chicane, a quick right-left-right-left insert into the frontstretch. The cars got through the first right-left fine, but Crosby missed the exit, going straight instead of going right.

Edwards, caught by surprise by the sudden move, missed the braking point, clipped the outside curb and shot left. Out of control, Edwards drilled the concrete barrier to the right of the track, slamming head-first into the barrier and bouncing across the track.

NASCAR and track officials worked to repair the damaged wall. Meanwhile, Edwards walked back to the garage area as his Roush Racing team brought out the No. 60 backup car. But the engine in the backup blew up. Edwards at least was able to keep this car out of the fence. So after a quick start, Edwards has ruined one car and two engines. But the rookie road-racer still likes racing here.

"I love it," Edwards said. "Our car was fast. On old tires, we ran like a (88.)28. We were moving. We were getting ready to run a great lap, but I guess that is what comes with a little bit of maturity."

Adrian Fernandez firmly established himself as the favorite for the pole Saturday with an amazing lap of 104.036 mph. That fast lap was more than four-tenths of a second faster than Ron Fellows, who went 103.503.

Fernandez is a Mexico City native and will undoubtedly be the fan favorite this weekend. His popularity has grown to Dale Earnhardt Jr.-like status as Fernandez rose through the ranks to become a winner in CART and the IRL.

This is Fernandez's first attempt at a NASCAR race, and he appears to have taken to stock cars just fine, thank you.

"I feel fine. I'm pushing when I need to push," said Fernandez, driving Hendrick Motorsports' No. 5 Chevrolet. "I'm trying not to make mistakes. I try to follow a rhythm. I feel good about the car. I'm trying different things. Some things work, and others don't. ... We're very close, so that is good."

2nd Friday Practice Results

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