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Edwards beats Montoya to pole

Carl Edwards edged Juan Pablo Montoya to claim his second pole position of the season in qualifying for Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond

The Roush Fenway driver benefited from a later draw than his Earnhardt Ganassi rival, who had been the second one out on the track to complete his qualifying lap.

Edwards, who had been fastest in the final practice, was the 29th car out and on his second flying lap he improved on Montoya's benchmark by setting a time of 21.133 seconds, at an average speed of 127.762 mph.

"I noticed how fast Juan was down through [Turns] 3 and 4 and just didn't think we'd go that fast," Edwards said after claiming his sixth career pole. "I told [crew chief] Bob [Osborne] it was like a Sunday drive man, it was easy. The car did all the work and that's really cool... We've been focusing a lot on qualifying and it's cool to have a good lap like that."

Montoya improved nearly four tenths of a second from his first to his second qualifying lap and despite locking up the left front under braking for Turn 3, his lap turned out to be very fast.

"I was getting the most out of the car and just braking a little too hard when I turned in and that's it, not a big deal," said Montoya. "I smoked the tyre but it really didn't affect the lap time too much. It made the car a little tight but as long as you keep turning the wheel is fine. It's only one lap.

"I've been complaining a lot about the car all day but it's got plenty of speed."

Richard Petty's AJ Allmendinger was third fastest in his Ford while Clint Bowyer, who is on the verge of securing the final spot in this year's Chase, was fourth fastest ahead of Michael Waltrip Racing's David Reutimann.

Reigning champion and three-time winner at Richmond Jimmie Johnson looked consistent in practice and qualified 11th, while points leader Kevin Harvick was only 20th.

Jeff Green was fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 16th place but five of them were left out of the field, including former Sprint Cup champion and three-time Richmond winner Terry Labonte, who was making a return to NASCAR's top level as a driver and owner alongside Bill Stavola.

Two-time DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom showed quick progress in race trim during practice, but struggled in qualifying at the wheel of the #83 Red Bull Toyota and will start 42nd on his oval debut.

Pos  Driver              Car        Speed    Time     Gap
 1.  Carl Edwards        Ford       127.762  21.133s
 2.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Chevrolet  127.455  21.184s  + 0.051s
 3.  AJ Allmendinger     Ford       127.101  21.243s  + 0.110s
 4.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet  127.077  21.247s  + 0.114s
 5.  David Reutimann     Toyota     127.017  21.257s  + 0.124s
 6.  Joey Logano         Toyota     126.975  21.264s  + 0.131s
 7.  Paul Menard         Ford       126.951  21.268s  + 0.135s
 8.  Brad Keselowski     Dodge      126.939  21.270s  + 0.137s
 9.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet  126.784  21.296s  + 0.163s
10.  Kasey Kahne         Ford       126.767  21.299s  + 0.166s
11.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet  126.654  21.318s  + 0.185s
12.  Matt Kenseth        Ford       126.505  21.343s  + 0.210s
13.  Marcos Ambrose      Toyota     126.505  21.343s  + 0.210s
14.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota     126.470  21.349s  + 0.216s
15.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet  126.440  21.354s  + 0.221s
16.  Jeff Green          Ford       126.422  21.357s  + 0.224s
17.  Regan Smith         Chevrolet  126.410  21.359s  + 0.226s
18.  Casey Mears         Toyota     126.369  21.366s  + 0.233s
19.  Mark Martin         Chevrolet  126.345  21.370s  + 0.237s
20.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet  126.210  21.393s  + 0.260s
21.  Kurt Busch          Dodge      126.133  21.406s  + 0.273s
22.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet  126.039  21.422s  + 0.289s
23.  Ryan Newman         Chevrolet  126.039  21.422s  + 0.289s
24.  Greg Biffle         Ford       126.027  21.424s  + 0.291s
25.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet  125.933  21.440s  + 0.307s
26.  David Ragan         Ford       125.845  21.455s  + 0.322s
27.  Dave Blaney         Chevrolet  125.827  21.458s  + 0.325s
28.  Landon Cassill      Chevrolet  125.810  21.461s  + 0.328s
29.  Martin Truex Jr     Toyota     125.745  21.472s  + 0.339s
30.  Joe Nemechek        Toyota     125.716  21.477s  + 0.344s
31.  Scott Speed         Toyota     125.687  21.482s  + 0.349s
32.  Kyle Busch          Toyota     125.564  21.503s  + 0.370s
33.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dodge      125.523  21.510s  + 0.377s
34.  Jamie McMurray      Chevrolet  125.465  21.520s  + 0.387s
35.  Jason Leffler       Toyota     125.331  21.543s  + 0.410s
36.  Elliott Sadler      Ford       125.284  21.551s  + 0.418s
37.  Mike Bliss          Toyota     125.232  21.560s  + 0.427s
38.  Travis Kvapil       Ford       125.127  21.578s  + 0.445s
39.  David Gilliland     Ford       125.012  21.598s  + 0.465s
40.  Tony Raines         Ford       124.792  21.636s  + 0.503s
41.  Kevin Conway        Toyota     123.899  21.792s  + 0.659s
42.  Mattias Ekstrom     Toyota     123.717  21.824s  + 0.691s
43.  Bobby Labonte       Chevrolet

Did not qualify:

     Terry Labonte       Chevrolet  124.971  21.605s  + 0.472s
     Michael McDowell    Dodge      124.355  21.712s  + 0.579s
     Todd Bodine         Toyota     124.292  21.723s  + 0.590s
     Scott Riggs         Toyota     124.041  21.767s  + 0.634s
     Brian Keselowski    Dodge      122.912  21.967s  + 0.834s

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