Carl Edwards heads to the Lowe's Motor Speedway for Saturday night's Sprint All-Star Challenge and the Coca-Cola 600 on May 25 as the favorite since his car already has won at Lowe's sister tracks -- the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.

Edwards talked about his success in the No. 99 Ford and the recent run of success by Kyle Busch following last week's race at Darlington, S.C. Here are excerpts of that interview:

Question: How good is Kyle Busch's team right now?

Edwards: Oh yeah. Anytime you see somebody running that well, that Gibbs bunch is running really well and you want to beat 'em. A lot of times this year we've had some good battles and they do a great job, so my hat's off to 'em. They earned this win, that's for sure.

Question: Busch loves to bow at fans as they boo him. What do you think of that?

Edwards: People are going to do whatever they're going to do. His brother did the snow angel thing. Hey, here's the deal, it's just entertainment. When you win the race, you're the winner. You can get out and do whatever you want and it's OK because you won. People can say whatever they want, but you're still the winner so I'm cool with whatever people want to do. I think it's cool when Kyle gets the smoke going and then all of a sudden he jumps out of the car like David Copperfield or something. That's pretty neat.

Question: You spent some time with David Pearson recently. What was that like?

Edwards: It was really cool the time I did get to spend with him. I'm glad you brought that up. He was over here (at Darlington) and, like you said, the history here. For David Pearson to be able to stand in the garage and tell me, 'Hey man, if you get into Turn 3and it's a little tight, it's going to be ok in Turns 1 and 2.' All of that stuff, so that was pretty cool. We had a good time. That man is wild.

Question: Other competitors said your car has an unusual yaw, like it's out of alignment. Did that help you win three times this year?

Edwards: Yeah, that's exactly what makes my car so fast. In fact, when we thought about taking a couple of weekends off, we were going to go get a monkey to drive the car because it's real easy and that's the only reason we're winning. So they should just focus on that and not worry about anything else.

Question: What kind of influence did your mother have on your career?

Edwards: My mom had a huge influence on my career, not only the $20 or $40 she'd throw me for every Saturday when I'd go to get pit passes and stuff, but emotionally she's just been unbelievable with her support. She's a woman who has instilled in me the idea that you can do anything you set your mind to and that's it. She lives it. She's a hardcore woman. She's pretty cool.

Question: Should the Darlington Raceway be in the Chase for the Championship?

Edwards: Oh yeah, it would be fine if this track was in the chase. That would be great, especially if this pavement gets worn back out. This is just a real race track. It's really fun and you've got to really drive on it to make the car go fast. I think these are the type of tracks that when a guy wins at there's a lot of pride. I was just over there talking with David Pearson and to know that whoever wins this race tomorrow night is going to be right up there with all the legends, that's big. So I think it deserves however many dates we can get it.

Question: Would you support a move for Darlington to get back its traditional Labor Day weekend date -- and a name change back to the Southern 500?

Edwards: I don't know all the politics around the dates, but if it's always been the Southern 500 that's pretty cool. Anytime you can keep a hold of a piece of history and have new guys compete in it, that's big. The Daytona 500 is the Daytona 500. You know that when you go there it's the same race that Richard Petty and all those guys raced a long time ago and that means a lot to me. I think anytime we can keep history, that's good. I don't know the politics of the name though and things like that, but it would be cool. It would be cool if we ran the same exact schedule they ran in 1955. That would be great, but things change, I guess.

-- Compiled by Don Coble