Ford NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle were surprised today with the delivery of their new 2008 Shelby GT500KRs in a brief ceremony at Ford World Headquarters, the day before NASCAR action starts at Michigan International Speedway. Edwards was awarded his Mustang for winning the 2007 Nationwide Championship, while Biffle and Kenseth ordered the cars for personal use. The three, along with all of Ford’s Sprint Cup drivers and owners, were in Dearborn for business meetings.

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CARL EDWARDS — No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion

YOU’VE GOT A NEW CAR. “That’s more than a new car, that’s a hot rod. I’m going to get it from my hometown dealership, Joe Machens, in Columbia, Missouri, so that’s cool. I walked into Joe Machens Ford probably 10 years ago when the Mustangs with the new body style came out, when they changed it, and I was thinking, ‘Man, a brand-new Mustang would be the coolest thing in the world.’ So, that’s amazing that Ford did this for me.”

DO YOU COLLECT CARS TO COLLECT THEM, OR DO YOU DRIVE THEM? “I am driving the hell out of that car. That car’s made to be driven, so I’m going to drive it.”

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MATT KENSETH — No. 17 DeWalt Ford Fusion

DO YOU COLLECT THESE CARS, OR DO YOU DRIVE THEM? “I probably drive them, although I haven’t driven my Ford GT too much. There’s probably only 500 miles on that because that’s kind of a special car. But I’m actually going to give this car to my dad, so he’ll have it up in Wisconsin, and I told him, ‘Wear it out.’ I got it built for my dad.”

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GREG BIFFLE — No. 16 3M Ford Fusion

DO YOU COLLECT THESE CARS, OR DO YOU DRIVE THEM? “Believe it or not, I was the guy who said, ‘If I’m going to buy a car, I’m going to drive the darn thing.’ And, I got the Ford GT and I got the Mustang Cobra GT500 already, the ‘07 model, and I think I’ve had the GT for a little more than two years now and it’s got a little over 220 miles on it, and my Cobra has about 183, so my theory of buy ‘em and drive ‘em, forget it. It kind of went out the window, because I got them and they looked so nice and you start thinking about the heritage of the car and what it is, like that car, they made just 1,000 of them, and we got it here in Dearborn, right in front of Ford’s World Headquarters. The car means a lot, even though it’s just a car that I bought and paid for. It still means a lot, and so I like to drive those cars on nice days. I don’t drive them a long ways. But I admire them more parked in my garage and see them sitting there. I think I appreciate them more in that aspect than actually driving the cars. And I think about, and I think that I’m being nice to the car by leaving it parked there and jumping in my Lincoln, and I can run up to lunch and back. I do drive them, but not like I thought I would, like ‘Oh, I’m going to drive that car every day.’ Initially that was my plan, but my heart won’t let me do that, because I care so much about the car.”

[Ford Racing]

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