Carl Edwards quickest in final practice ahead of Homestead qualifying

Following a busy first session where the Roush Fenway racer was second fastest, Edwards went on to set the best lap of the 60-minute final practice, doing so during his second and final run with a time of 31.57 seconds, at an average speed of 171.124 mph, while simulating qualifying.

He had initially set the pace with a first qualifying run in the early minutes, then ran again in the final 20 minutes to remain at the top of the leaderboard with only three timed laps. His team-mate David Ragan was second, underlining Roush Fenway's outright pace, the team having won six of the last seven races at the track.

While Edwards focused solely on qualifying, his title rival Tony Stewart had an entirely different approach, spending the whole session working on longer runs, finishing 28th fastest after running 52 laps, the most of the session. The two-time champion did not complete a single qualifying run while many of his rivals did.

Red Bull rookie Cole Whitt impressed with the third fastest time behind the Roush Fenway duo while Richard Petty's AJ Allmendinger was fourth ahead of Phoenix Racing's Landon Cassill.

Hendrick Motorsports' Jeff Gordon set the fastest 10-lap average with his first long run of the session ahead of Richard Childress Racing's Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick. Roush Fenway's Matt Kenseth set the fifth fastest average, while Stewart set the ninth quickest.

The session was halted only once for debris on the track in the opening minutes, as many drivers were finishing their initial long runs.