BRISTOL, Tennessee — Carl Edwards won his first pole position of the season Friday, completed a best lap of 15.746 seconds in qualifying for Saturday night’s Sharpie 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race.
Edwards, who trails only Kyle Busch in the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing’s Sprint Cup point standings, is 222 points behind, but followed up his victory last weekend in Michigan with his fourth career pole.
“That’s as fast as I could go,” Edwards said. “The pole is huge for us. This track, obviously track position, pit stall selection, those things are really important.”
Busch, with eight wins and two poles this season, will start ninth.
David Reutimann put his Toyota on the outside of Edwards’ Ford on the front row, turning a lap of 15.835 seconds on the 858-meter (.533-mile) Bristol Motor Speedway oval, with the Chevrolets of Jeff Gordon and rookie Regan Smith in Row 2.
Reutimann’s effort was his best effort in NASCAR’s top series.
“I had to pedal it pretty hard coming off of turn two because I got back to the gas pretty quick and it shoved the front end a little bit,” he said. “All in all, it ended up being a pretty good lap. It gave us a good pit selection and good starting position.”
Gordon, a four-time series champion but non-winner through 23 races this season, is among the nine drivers battling for the final seven spots in the Chase for the championship.
Other drivers battling to stay in, or move into, the 12-driver playoff included Kevin Harvick (8th), who will start sixth; Kasey Kahne (11th), who qualified 13th; Greg Biffle (7th), who will start 14th; and Denny Hamlin (12th), who will start 21st.
Matt Kenseth (10th) starts 25th.
After Friday qualifying; race Saturday At Bristol Motor Speedway
Bristol, Tenn.
Lap length: .533 miles (Car number in parentheses)
1. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 121.860.
2. (44) David Reutimann, Toyota, 121.175.
3. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 121.121.
4. (01) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 121.083.
5. (21) Bill Elliott, Ford, 120.740.
6. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 120.649.
7. (96) Ken Schrader, Toyota, 120.634.
8. (84) A.J. Allmendinger, Toyota, 120.588.
9. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 120.550.
10. (19) Elliott Sadler, Dodge, 120.528.
11. (12) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 120.512.
12. (1) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 120.324.
13. (9) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 120.316.
14. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 120.248.
15. (38) David Gilliland, Ford, 120.203.
16. (15) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 120.203.
17. (5) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 120.180.
18. (31) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 120.150.
19. (2) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 120.120.
20. (70) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 120.090.
21. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 120.083.
22. (07) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 120.083.
23. (8) Aric Almirola, Chevrolet, 120.083.
24. (09) Sterling Marlin, Chevrolet, 120.038.
25. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 120.000.
26. (83) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 119.970.
27. (6) David Ragan, Ford, 119.783.
28. (20) Tony Stewart, Toyota, 119.768.
29. (45) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 119.618.
30. (41) Reed Sorenson, Dodge, 119.604.
31. (7) Robby Gordon, Dodge, 119.589.
32. (28) Travis Kvapil, Ford, 119.477.
33. (00) Mike Skinner, Toyota, 119.395.
34. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 119.299.
35. (77) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 119.284.
36. (22) Dave Blaney, Toyota, 119.188.
37. (43) Bobby Labonte, Dodge, 118.877.
38. (66) Scott Riggs, Chevrolet, 118.708.
39. (42) Juan Pablo Montoya, Dodge, 118.650.
40. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, Owner Points
41. (26) Jamie McMurray, Ford, Owner Points
42. (55) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, Owner Points
43. (78) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 119.165.<
Failed to Qualify
44. (34) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 119.025.
45. (10) Patrick Carpentier, Dodge, 118.855.
46. (08) Johnny Sauter, Dodge, 115.430.
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