Edwards outlasts JGR teammate Hamlin to win Bristol pole

Edwards’ average lap speed of 131.407 mph topped the final round of Friday’s qualifying session and was enough to hold off his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin, to win his career-best fifth Sprint Cup Series pole of the season.

Hamlin, who broke his own track qualifying record with his first round run, was the last car to go out in the final round and managed three attempts, but could not topple Edwards from the top spot.

Edwards completed a sweep, winning the pole at both Cup races at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway this season. He started first and finished first in the Bristol spring race.

“I think I can win from the pole. I think it’s going to be a heck of a race,” Edwards said.

The race is the first at Bristol since the track “polished” the lower racing groove and applied a sealer to improve grip and entice drivers to run down there.

Kyle Busch qualified third, rookie Ryan Blaney was fourth and Matt Kenseth was fifth as JGR took four of the top five starting positions.

Rookie Chase Elliott will start sixth, Martin Truex Jr. seventh, A.J. Allmendinger eighth, Brad Keselowski ninth, Joey Logano 10th, Jeff Gordon 11th and Chris Buescher 12th.

Buescher’s 12th is his best starting position of his career.

"I tell you what, Pocono put a little pep in everyone’s step around here. It was really cool. A lot of these guys it was their first win as well as mine, so it’s neat to get everybody excited past halfway through the season and gives us something to shoot for again. This has pretty much changed our goals for the year," Buescher said.

"It went from trying to get top-15 finishes and run as consistently as possible to let’s make the Chase and that’s pretty special to be in our rookie season with a new group of guys and a new crew chief for me and all of us to be working in this direction. It’s pretty cool.”

Round 2

Hamlin wasted little time showing his strength, quickly going to the top of the leaderboard again with a best average lap speed of 130.495 mph.

It was just enough to edge his JGR teammate, Kenseth (130.300mph).

Also advancing to the final round of qualifying: Truex, Blaney, Edwards, Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Gordon, Elliott, Logano Keselowski and Buescher.

Buescher’s run marked the first time a Front Row Motorsports car advanced to the final round of a three-round qualifying session.

Among those who failed to advance were Kurt Busch (starting 14th), Jimmie Johnson (starting 16th), Kyle Larson (starting 23rd) and Kevin Harvick (starting 24th).

Round 1

Hamlin led the first round and is best average lap speed of 131.668 mph broke the track qualifying record, which was set by Hamlin himself last August.

Kyle Busch was second-fastest, Logano third, Kenseth fourth and Blaney fifth. Also in the Top 10: Kahne, Edwards, Buescher, Keselowski and Kurt Busch.

Less than four minutes into the first 20-minute session, Greg Biffle spun and just barely tagged the outside wall, doing some minor damage to the right-rear of his No. 16 Ford.

“I don't know what happened it just got away from me really fast,” Biffle said.

Biffle also spun in Friday afternoon’s practice session. Clint Bowyer also slapped the wall during the first round. Neither driver advanced to the second round.

Some others who failed to advance: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Tony Stewart, Jamie McMurray and Danica Patrick.

"I don't know exactly what we're going to see in the race," said Edwards after qualifying. "Everyone in the Cup garage is going to be watching the Xfinity race (Friday night). I think it's going to tell us a lot about what's going to happen," Edwards said.

"I don't know if the track still has the option on the table to do more to the surface before the race tomorrow night - I'm not certain what they're planning. But we're all going to be watching to see where the (racing) line goes."

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Time	Gap	Mph
1	19	Carl Edwards	Toyota	14.602		131.407
2	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	14.625	0.023	131.200
3	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	14.655	0.053	130.931
4	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	14.688	0.086	130.637
5	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	14.690	0.088	130.619
6	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	14.777	0.175	129.850
7	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	14.812	0.210	129.544
8	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	14.819	0.217	129.482
9	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	14.836	0.234	129.334
10	22	Joey Logano	Ford	14.855	0.253	129.169