Daytona 500 pole-winner Carl Edwards could still push for Duel win

Edwards guaranteed his top spot for the NASCAR Sprint Cup season-opener in yesterday's qualifying session, and will retain it wherever he finishes in his Duel heat.

But despite the return of fully-fledged pack racing seeing more crashes in Saturday's Budweiser Shootout event, the Roush Fenway driver said he is open to taking risks in the Duel even though there is nothing at stake for him.

"That's one way to look at it, but the other way is that I know how good our back-up car is and I also know that you can't give these other guys any advantage and if I were to not race and not understand the dynamics that are going to happen during the daytime here at this racetrack with this package, I'd be giving them something," he said.

"So I've got to go out there as a driver and mix it up and race and see how our car handles, but there is a little bit of a, 'Man, there might be something really special about this car,' so I'll talk with [crew chief] Bob [Osborne] and I'm sure [team boss] Jack [Roush] will have some words for me before that race."

Edwards suggested his risk strategy for the Duel might only be decided mid-race.

"Even if we make a change halfway through the race and say, 'Hey, things look smooth. Let's just go for it,' or 'Things are looking insane, let's save the car,'" he said.

The 2011 Sprint Cup runner-up does not think starting from pole necessarily gives him an advantage in staying out of trouble in the pack, but does think having team-mate Greg Biffle starting alongside him will be an advantage.

"We're likely to wreck up there in the front too," said Edwards. "I was running second [in the Shootout] behind Greg and Clint [Bowyer] was third and he got turned sideways coming out of the tri-oval, so I truly don't know there's a safe place on the racetrack with this style of racing, but the thing that's really good for me is that Greg, a guy who has been my partner at these restrictor plate races, is starting right there with us. Him and I can work together.

"I know Greg has my best interests and Roush's best interests in mind, just as I do for him, so that kind of makes me feel better, that we'll be together at the start and we don't have to go find each other to help one another later."

Although Edwards acknowledged that qualifying will hold little relevance when the 500 gets underway, he said pole was an important boost for his Roush Fenway team coming into the new season.

"It probably wouldn't have mattered to me the first time I came down here or the second time, but now after seeing how hard everybody works all winter and how much pride the guys take in how these cars qualify, it does mean something to me," Edwards said. "It's a sign of the strength of your team and it's not that we just have one car up there, to have that whole front row says a lot about Roush Fenway Racing, about Ford. It's huge for our sponsors."

Duel one line-up:

Pos  Driver                Team/Car
 1.  Carl Edwards          Roush Fenway Ford
 2.  Dale Earnhardt Jr     Hendrick Chevrolet
 3.  Marcos Ambrose        Petty Ford
 4.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr    Roush Fenway Ford
 5.  Trevor Bayne          Wood Brothers Ford
 6.  Tony Stewart          Stewart-Haas Chevrolet
 7.  Aric Almirola         Petty Ford
 8.  Paul Menard           Childress Chevrolet
 9.  David Ragan           Front Row Ford
10.  AJ Allmendinger       Penske Dodge
11.  Brad Keselowski       Penske Dodge
12.  Kevin Harvick         Childress Chevrolet
13.  Jeff Burton           Childress Chevrolet
14.  Juan Pablo Montoya    Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet
15.  David Stremme         Inception Toyota
16.  Jamie McMurray        Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet
17.  Danica Patrick        Baldwin Chevrolet
18.  Terry Labonte         FAS Lane Ford
19.  Michael Waltrip       Waltrip Toyota
20.  Denny Hamlin          Gibbs Toyota
21.  Michael McDowell      Parsons Ford
22.  Landon Cassill        BK Toyota
23.  David Gilliland       Front Row Ford
24.  Mike Wallace          Max Q Ford
25.  Robby Gordon          Gordon Dodge

Duel two:

Pos  Driver                Team/Car
 1.  Greg Biffle           Roush Fenway Ford
 2.  Casey Mears           Germain Ford
 3.  Jeff Gordon           Hendrick Chevrolet
 4.  Martin Truex Jr       Waltrip Toyota
 5.  Mark Martin           Waltrip Toyota
 6.  Jimmie Johnson        Hendrick Chevrolet
 7.  Matt Kenseth          Roush Fenway Ford
 8.  Ryan Newman           Stewart-Haas Chevrolet
 9.  Joey Logano           Gibbs Toyota
10.  Kasey Kahne           Hendrick Chevrolet
11.  Tony Raines           Front Row Ford
12.  Kyle Busch            Gibbs Toyota
13.  Kenny Wallace         RAB Toyota
14.  Dave Blaney           Baldwin Chevrolet
15.  Kurt Busch            Phoenix Chevrolet
16.  Elliott Sadler        Childress Chevrolet
17.  Joe Nemechek          NEMCO Toyota
18.  Regan Smith           Furniture Row Chevrolet
19.  Bobby Labonte         JTG Daugherty Toyota
20.  Bill Elliott          NEMCO Toyota
21.  David Reutimann       BK Toyota
22.  Robert Richardson Jr  R3 Toyota
23.  JJ Yeley              Robinson-Blakeney Toyota
24.  Clint Bowyer          Waltrip Toyota