Edwards Claims Maiden Pole

The 26-year-old took the top spot with a lap of 185.061mph, beating teammate Mark Martin, who ran a lap of 184.833. Third was Kurt Busch, followed by Greg Biggle.

The fifth Roush Racing driver, Matt Kenseth, qualified in 23rd.

Edwards is among six driver who are competing for the final three spots for the Chase for the Cup, which begins in two races. Edwards is currenly eighth in the points standing, but he is only 84 points ahead of 13th place Elliot Sadler.

"I'm not the greatest qualifier and I'm learning a lot," Edwards said after qualifying. "I'm really excited to get to start up front in a race that we really need to run well in.

"I want to win this race. But, at the same time, I'm really aware of the points situations. To come out of here and distance myself on the good of 10th place would be awesome."

Pos  Driver              Make        Speed
 1.  Carl Edwards        Ford        185.061
 2.  Mark Martin         Ford        184.833
 3.  Kurt Busch          Ford        184.403
 4.  Greg Biffle         Ford        184.370
 5.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet   184.049
 6.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet   183.833
 7.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge       183.805
 8.  J.J. Yeley          Chevrolet   183.758
 9.  Brian Vickers       Chevrolet   183.702
10.  Scott Riggs         Chevrolet   183.482
11.  Bobby Hamilton Jr.  Chevrolet   183.435
12.  Sterling Marlin     Dodge       183.318
13.  Jeremy Mayfield     Dodge       183.309
14.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet   182.987
15.  Elliott Sadler      Ford        182.941
16.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet   182.913
17.  Jeff Green          Dodge       182.741
18.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet   182.727
19.  Michael Waltrip     Chevrolet   182.560
20.  Kyle Petty          Dodge       182.542
21.  Dave Blaney         Chevrolet   182.519
22.  Joe Nemechek        Chevrolet   182.486
23.  Matt Kenseth        Ford        182.380
24.  Robby Gordon        Chevrolet   182.283
25.  Kyle Busch*         Chevrolet   182.195
26.  Boris Said          Chevrolet   182.043
27.  Scott Wimmer        Dodge       181.749
28.  Ryan Newman         Dodge       181.726
29.  Travis Kvapil*      Dodge       181.351
30.  Bill Elliott        Dodge       181.228
31.  Ken Schrader        Dodge       181.141
32.  Tony Raines         Dodge       180.991
33.  Casey Mears         Dodge       180.873
34.  Rusty Wallace       Dodge       180.537
35.  Stuart Kirby        Chevrolet   180.523
36.  Mike Garvey*        Ford        180.415
37.  Dale Jarrett        Ford        180.252
38.  Mike Bliss          Chevrolet   180.108
39.  Jon Wood            Ford        179.816
40.  Jamie McMurray      Dodge       179.744
41.  Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Chevrolet   179.681
42.  Bobby Labonte       Chevrolet   176.631
43.  Hermie Sadler       Dodge       176.479

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Edwards Claims Maiden Pole

Carl Edwards took his maiden Nextel Cup pole position today at California Speedway, leading a Roush Racing sweep of the top four spots on the grid for Sunday's Sony HD 500

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