Bob Osborne sticking to plans to win at Homestead

Should Bob Osborne, crew chief for Carl Edwards and the No.99 team go for broke this weekend and try something new and wild? Nope, Osborne has a plan and will execute it like he normally does.

Listening to Osborne and Edwards on the scanner, the chemistry between driver and crew chief is odd, but it works for them. Edwards often cracks jokes while Osborne is more straight-laced. Together the duo has led the way in 2011, sitting atop the points standings for 21 weeks, and now it comes down to one race and just a three-point lead.

Osborne and Edwards have proven success at Homestead with a total of two wins, four top-5s and six top-10s. The notebook for this weekend holds the key for the team. Osborne was asked how he balances the confidence in his notebook versus getting too confident and staying on his game. “The big thing there is actually really using the practice sessions that we have to try to improve the set-up and the book of notes, so to speak,” Osborne responded. “We're not going to go there and just rest on our notebook. We're going to go there and flog the race car to try to improve it and see what we can come out of those practice sessions that is better than where we started.”

“I think if we hold true to that and really push the race car during the practice sessions, we'll have a better package than when we started and should be a good package for the race doing that procedure,” Osborne stated.

Will Osborne play it safe and conservative this weekend? That is a negative. He states, “We're going to go there and put our best foot forward, for sure, which is what we really do every race, all season long. But we're going to start out by trying to win the pole, and then we're going to start the race with the intent on winning the race for sure.


Osborne was asked if he thought about what it would be like to finally win that title. Working as a crew chief since 2004, this is the closest he has come to a title.

With a bit of hesitation, Osborne said, “Yeah, every day, I guess. That is the goal for all of us in this sport is to be a champion and to be a Sprint Cup holder, so to speak. You know, it's what we're trying to achieve. Hopefully we get to that point so I can really know for sure what it feels like.”

In just a few more days we will know if those 21 weeks worth of hard work we worth it all, if Carl Edwards and the No.99 team walk away as champions or runner-up. No one is a loser though, because this has been such a great Chase.