Edwards to drive Roush's #50 Truck at Daytona and some other races, but Canadian Pete Shepherd will drive it for the remainder of the season

(I know Petey was disappointed about not racing the Truck at Daytona - especially after his great testing sessions in the past few weeks - but Jack Roush felt he needed a little more seasoning in the draft before being thrown to the wolves at DIS. Putting Daytona aside, this is incredible news for Shepherd, who will drive the #50 Roush truck in many of the remaining Craftsman Truck Series races. What an incredible opportunity. Congratulations Pete!... GM).

Here is the release from Roush....

Concord, N.C. (January 29, 2007) - Carl Edwards is looking to kick off the 2007 season with a bang at Daytona International Speedway. Edwards, who pilots the No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion in the Cup Series and the No. 60 Scotts Ford Fusion in the Busch Series, has signed up to race Roush Racing's No. 50 F-150 in the Craftsman Truck Series race Friday night.

Edwards will run a handful of truck races throughout the 2007 season (the schedule is TBD) while Peter Shepherd pilots the truck for the remaining races. The No. 50 truck that the two will share is still yet to be sponsored but Edwards is confident a new sponsor partner will come on board.

"I'm excited to be back in the truck at Daytona," said Edwards. "I won there a couple of years ago and it would be awesome to win there again. Matt Puccia is great and I know he and the guys have worked really hard to build some fast trucks for this year. We worked together at Ken Schraeder's shop back in the day so it's neat that we get to work together again.


Edwards continued, "To be able to help Peter Shepherd is awesome. He drove a Silver Crown car for me last year and did a good job. I'm really looking forward to racing with him this year."


Edwards and Shepherd will join truck teammates Erik Darnell and Travis Kvapil to round out the 2007 Roush Racing truck lineup. Kvapil, a former Craftsman Series truck champion, is the newest member to the Roush Racing team and will pilot the yet to be sponsored No. 6 F-150. Kvapil led the field at the recent Daytona truck test while teammates Darnell and Shepherd followed close behind.


With the Daytona race only three weeks away, Roush Racing is continuing to work on solidifying two primary sponsors; one for team Edwards and Shepherd and one for Kvapil. With 30 million loyal truck fans continuing to attend races (1.1 million in 2006) and watch on TV (viewership is up 46 percent since 2003), the Craftsman Truck Series continues to be one of the best buys in racing. The same fans that will be watching Edwards, Shepherd and Kvapil take to the track at Daytona, are 119 percent more likely to purchase a product from a brand that is represented in NASCAR.

With three championship contending teams, Roush Racing looks to continue their winning ways in 2007 with drivers that include, two Rookies-of-the-Year, pole winners, race winners and a champion. Anyone interested in being a part of this winning tradition should contact Robin Johnson at 704.720.4645.

Sheri L. Herrmann // Corporate Communications Manager // Roush Racing