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Edwards takes Phoenix pole

Carl Edwards carried momentum from his second place in the Daytona 500 by setting a new track record in Saturday's qualifying at Phoenix

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader set a time of 26.224 seconds at an average speed of 137.279 mph, beating the mark that he had set back in November when the series last raced at the one-mile oval. Roush Fenway racer Edwards got a perfect exit out of Turn 4 on his second lap, improving on the previous benchmark - also under the existing track record - of Red Bull's Kasey Kahne.

Penske's Kurt Busch, who was last on the track for his run due to the new procedure that sets the running order based on the fastest practice times, came closest to beating Edwards but ended up short by 32 thousandths. However, for the second week in a row, he will get to start from the front row, ahead of Kahne's Red Bull Toyota and the Joe Gibbs Racing Camry of Busch's brother Kyle.

The planned reconfiguration of the track, which is set to debut when the series returns during the Chase, means that Edwards' mark will remain the record for the current low-banked layout, as variable banking is being introduced along with a new surface.

Cool track temperatures and a new tyre selection from Goodyear contributed to 15 drivers running under the previous track benchmark.

"This new qualifying format is a little stressful," said Edwards. "I had to watch Kyle go, and I know how fast he was, and then Kurt was screaming fast yesterday, so he had me stressed out a little bit. It's fortunate we were able to sit on the pole. I love this racetrack. I know all the drivers love this racetrack. It's really fun to drive on and starting up front is, hopefully, going to make the race a lot simpler...

"Track position is huge here, especially on the short run. I think we'll have that first pit stall. I'm assuming that's what [crew chief] Bob [Osborne] will pick and that really helped us a lot in the fall [autumn] to have a good pit stall because I would lose a couple [of] spots, and Kurt and I actually raced a tonne, and he would take off and leave us, but we had the advantage of the pit stall and sometimes we'd come back out front and he'd pass me again.

"But having that pit stall means a lot and it will hopefully help us throughout the whole race."

Regan Smith also carried his speed from Daytona, rounding out the top five at the wheel of the Furniture Row Chevrolet, ahead of Gibbs' Joey Logano. Both Penske Dodges were in the top 10 as Brad Keselowski held pole provisionally before dropping down the timesheets to ninth-fastest.

Denny Hamlin, who dominated at Phoenix last autumn before fuel calculations came into play, was 12th, while two-time winner at the track Kevin Harvick was 17th-fastest. Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson, the Cup driver with the best record at the track, was only 28th-quickest.

Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne was 37th running in his back-up car, after crashing his primary Wood Brothers Ford on his first practice lap on Friday due to a suspected brake problem.

Casey Mears was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 27th at the wheel of Germain Racing's Toyota, while Daytona 500 upset qualifier Brian Keselowski was slowest in his K-Automotive Dodge, thus failing to make the field for Sunday's 500km event.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                 Time     Gap
 1.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford        26.224s
 2.  Kurt Busch          Penske Dodge             26.256s  + 0.032s
 3.  Kasey Kahne         Red Bull Toyota          26.259s  + 0.035s
 4.  Kyle Busch          Gibbs Toyota             26.281s  + 0.057s
 5.  Regan Smith         Furniture Row Chevy      26.283s  + 0.059s
 6.  Joey Logano         Gibbs Toyota             26.288s  + 0.064s
 7.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota           26.314s  + 0.090s
 8.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevy  26.321s  + 0.097s
 9.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Dodge             26.322s  + 0.098s
10.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford        26.340s  + 0.116s
11.  David Ragan         Roush Fenway Ford        26.346s  + 0.122s
12.  Denny Hamlin        Gibbs Toyota             26.358s  + 0.134s
13.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet      26.362s  + 0.138s
14.  Ryan Newman         Stewart Haas Chevrolet   26.382s  + 0.158s
15.  AJ Allmendinger     Petty Ford               26.392s  + 0.168s
16.  Clint Bowyer        Childress Chevrolet      26.407s  + 0.183s
17.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet      26.448s  + 0.224s
18.  Tony Stewart        Stewart Haas Chevrolet   26.459s  + 0.235s
19.  Brian Vickers       Red Bull Toyota          26.471s  + 0.247s
20.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet       26.515s  + 0.291s
21.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota     26.523s  + 0.299s
22.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevy  26.529s  + 0.305s
23.  Mark Martin         Hendrick Chevrolet       26.547s  + 0.323s
24.  Matt Kenseth        Roush Fenway Ford        26.553s  + 0.329s
25.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet      26.556s  + 0.332s
26.  David Reutimann     Waltrip Toyota           26.557s  + 0.333s
27.  Casey Mears         Germain Toyota           26.563s  + 0.339s
28.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet       26.569s  + 0.345s
29.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford           26.574s  + 0.350s
30.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford               26.574s  + 0.350s
31.  Robby Gordon        Gordon Dodge             26.621s  + 0.397s
32.  Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota             26.680s  + 0.456s
33.  Trevor Bayne        Wood Brothers Ford       26.715s  + 0.491s
34.  Michael McDowell    HP Toyota                26.729s  + 0.505s
35.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet       26.731s  + 0.507s
36.  Mike Skinner        FAS Lane Ford            26.811s  + 0.587s
37.  Landon Cassill      Germain Toyota           26.856s  + 0.632s
38.  JJ Yeley            Whitney Chevrolet        26.857s  + 0.633s
39.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford               26.909s  + 0.685s
40.  Travis Kvapil       Front Row Ford           26.988s  + 0.764s
41.  Andy Lally          TRG Chevrolet            27.288s  + 1.064s
42.  Tony Raines         Front Row Ford           27.343s  + 1.119s
43.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet        26.996s  + 0.772s

Did not qualify:

     Brian Keselowski    K-Automotive Dodge       27.431s  + 1.207s

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