Edwards takes Phoenix Cup pole

The newly crowned Busch Series champion set a lap of 27.114 seconds at an average speed of 132.773 mph, beating Martin Truex Jr by just three thousandths of a second, and getting his first pole in nearly two years, just the third of his Cup career.

"Man, that was a lot of fun," said Edwards, who will take part in the 2008 season-opening Budweiser Shootout thanks to today's pole. "I didn't think [the lap] was going to hold up. Martin (Truex) put on a great lap and we beat him by three one-thousandths.

"This Car of Tomorrow is really good. We've ran good at the short tracks and it feels good to have success at places like Bristol and Dover and now to have a pole at Phoenix, it feels good."

Jeff Gordon started his weekend well by beating title rival Jimmie Johnson in qualifying, taking third place on the grid and running just fifteen thousandths of a second slower than Edwards' pole time on his second lap. He will share the second row of the grid with Phoenix local JJ Yeley.

"I really thought we had a shot at that pole there and I knew it was going to be very close," said Gordon, who won his first race at Phoenix last spring.

"We drew a late number and took advantage of it. The track had a lot of grip and [the car] was a little bit too free to get the lap that we needed to get that pole. But we were close and it was another good day here in qualifying for us."

Johnny Sauter was a surprise fifth ahead of Chase leader Jimmie Johnson, who will be looking to get his first ever victory at the one-mile oval. The reigning Nextel Cup champion had been fifth in practice ahead of Gordon and despite his lap not being just as quick as his teammate's he is still optimistic for the race.

"We felt really good for qualifying and also for the race on Sunday," Johnson said. "I've been able to run up front and lead some laps and be close to the victory and I think that I've learned a few things here in the last three or four races, not only at this track but also Martinsville. There are some things that I think will help me in the race for this racetrack."

Greg Biffle was seventh ahead of Tony Raines who scored his best qualifying result of the season in his penultimate race for Hall of Fame Racing. Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne rounded up the top-ten in an all-Dodge fifth row of the grid for Sunday's race.

Clint Bowyer, who still has a marginal shot at the title, didn't have a very good qualifying ending up 20th with the same car with which he dominated the first weekend of the Chase at New Hampshire, where he claimed pole and then won the race.

Just a few places behind him, Patrick Carpentier was able to put his No. 10 Gillett Evernham Dodge on the field for his Nextel Cup oval debut, qualifying 24th and second among the drivers who needed to make the field on time, behind Brian Vickers.

Sam Hornish Jr finally made the field for his maiden Cup race in his seventh qualifying attempt, putting his car just two places behind Carpentier's and one spot ahead of Jacques Villeneuve, who also succeeded in making the field for what will be his second Cup race.

Meanwhile Kevin Harvick, last year's winner of both races at Phoenix, didn't have a good qualifying and ended up 34th on the grid for Sunday's race. Dale Earnhardt Jr, also a two-time winner at the one-mile oval, will start the race beside him on the 17th row.

Michael Waltrip had a very disappointing day being the first of the non-guaranteed drivers to miss the race. Neither of his teammates qualified as Dale Jarrett was slowest and David Reutimann had to park his car after his warm up lap due to an engine failure.

AJ Allmendinger, Ward Burton and John Andretti also failed to make the field.

Pos  Driver             Car        Speed    Time
 1.  Carl Edwards       Ford       132.773  27.114
 2.  Martin Truex Jr    Chevrolet  132.758  27.117  + 0.003
 3.  Jeff Gordon        Chevrolet  132.699  27.129  + 0.015
 4.  J.J. Yeley         Chevrolet  132.236  27.224  + 0.110
 5.  Johnny Sauter      Chevrolet  132.144  27.243  + 0.129
 6.  Jimmie Johnson     Chevrolet  132.130  27.246  + 0.132
 7.  Greg Biffle        Ford       132.091  27.254  + 0.140
 8.  Tony Raines        Chevrolet  132.057  27.261  + 0.147
 9.  Kurt Busch         Dodge      132.023  27.268  + 0.154
10.  Kasey Kahne        Dodge      132.023  27.268  + 0.154
11.  Casey Mears        Chevrolet  132.008  27.271  + 0.157
12.  Jeff Burton        Chevrolet  131.936  27.286  + 0.172
13.  Ryan Newman        Dodge      131.917  27.290  + 0.176
14.  Juan Montoya       Dodge      131.670  27.341  + 0.227
15.  Denny Hamlin       Chevrolet  131.627  27.350  + 0.236
16.  Elliott Sadler     Dodge      131.569  27.362  + 0.248
17.  Dave Blaney        Toyota     131.560  27.364  + 0.250
18.  Matt Kenseth       Ford       131.545  27.367  + 0.253
19.  Paul Menard        Chevrolet  131.454  27.386  + 0.272
20.  Clint Bowyer       Chevrolet  131.401  27.397  + 0.283
21.  Tony Stewart       Chevrolet  131.382  27.401  + 0.287
22.  Brian Vickers      Toyota     131.348  27.408  + 0.294
23.  Jamie McMurray     Ford       131.305  27.417  + 0.303
24.  Patrick Carpentier Dodge      131.267  27.425  + 0.311
25.  Reed Sorenson      Dodge      131.205  27.438  + 0.324
26.  Sam Hornish Jr     Dodge      131.062  27.468  + 0.354
27.  Jacques Villeneuve Toyota     131.014  27.478  + 0.364
28.  Aric Almirola      Chevrolet  130.976  27.486  + 0.372
29.  Sterling Marlin    Chevrolet  130.933  27.495  + 0.381
30.  Johnny Benson      Toyota     130.757  27.532  + 0.418
31.  Joe Nemechek       Chevrolet  130.738  27.536  + 0.422
32.  Bobby Labonte      Dodge      130.553  27.575  + 0.461
33.  Ricky Rudd         Ford       130.501  27.586  + 0.472
34.  Kevin Harvick      Chevrolet  130.468  27.593  + 0.479
35.  Dale Earnhardt Jr  Chevrolet  130.449  27.597  + 0.483
36.  Kyle Petty         Dodge      130.091  27.673  + 0.559
37.  David Stremme      Dodge      130.081  27.675  + 0.561
38.  Kyle Busch         Chevrolet  129.950  27.703  + 0.589
39.  Robby Gordon       Ford       129.898  27.714  + 0.600
40.  Jeremy Mayfield    Chevrolet  129.716  27.753  + 0.639
41.  David Ragan        Ford       129.079  27.890  + 0.776
42.  David Gilliland    Ford       128.278  28.064  + 0.950
43.  Bill Elliott       Ford       Champion's Provisional