Edwards takes pole at Phoenix

Roush Fenway racer Edwards, who had been quickest earlier in practice, beat the previous benchmark set by Richard Petty's AJ Allmendinger with a record-setting lap of 26.395 seconds at an average speed of 136.389 mph.

Being one of the last in the qualifying order helped Edwards secure his third pole position of the season and the second of his career at Phoenix International Raceway.

"The first thing that we're going to have an advantage Sunday is with our pit stall, that's going to help us a lot," said Edwards, who remains winless since the 2008 season finale at Homestead.

"I think we have an advantage because [the title rivals] have to be a little bit conservative. Guys like myself, we're really battling for fourth in points and battling for wins. We can go out and be a little more aggressive and maybe take advantage of that."

Following another week of uncertainty about his future, Allmendinger secured another Ford front-row sweep following last week's at Texas.

Richard Petty Motorsports haulers only left the Fort Worth track on Wednesday, as the team continues to weather some financial woes in the last two weeks of the season, raising further doubts about its ability to race next season, despite having signed the Californian and Australian Marcos Ambrose on multi-year deals.

"There's no secret of what we're going through right now and it's a tough time," said Allmendinger. "All the crew guys here and all the guys at the shop listening and watching, they're amazing people because it could easily tear this team apart.

"Everybody could be fighting with each other and not want to be here, but everybody is sticking together and fighting hard to go out there and perform."

Penske's Kurt Busch held provisional pole but ended up third, followed by Edwards' team-mate Greg Biffle and Earnhardt Ganassi's Jamie McMurray, while David Reutimann was best among the Toyotas in sixth place.

Chase leader Hamlin was best of the title contenders, despite not running as well as earlier in the first practice session. He will line up 17th on the grid, while rivals Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick will see the green flag wave from 21st and 29th respectively.

Casey Mears was the best of the non-guaranteed drivers to make the field on speed while Jason Leffler, Joe Nemechek and Michael McDowell failed to qualify.

Pos  Driver                Car        Speed    Time     Gap
 1.  Carl Edwards          Ford       136.389  26.395s
 2.  AJ Allmendinger       Ford       136.250  26.422s  + 0.027s
 3.  Kurt Busch            Dodge      136.240  26.424s  + 0.029s
 4.  Greg Biffle           Ford       135.742  26.521s  + 0.126s
 5.  Jamie McMurray        Chevrolet  135.665  26.536s  + 0.141s
 6.  David Reutimann       Toyota     135.547  26.559s  + 0.164s
 7.  Kyle Busch            Toyota     135.527  26.563s  + 0.168s
 8.  Regan Smith           Chevrolet  135.303  26.607s  + 0.212s
 9.  Aric Almirola         Ford       135.227  26.622s  + 0.227s
10.  Joey Logano           Toyota     135.206  26.626s  + 0.231s
11.  Martin Truex Jr       Toyota     135.206  26.626s  + 0.231s
12.  David Ragan           Ford       135.176  26.632s  + 0.237s
13.  Marcos Ambrose        Toyota     135.150  26.637s  + 0.242s
14.  Clint Bowyer          Chevrolet  135.089  26.649s  + 0.254s
15.  Matt Kenseth          Ford       135.084  26.650s  + 0.255s
16.  Sam Hornish Jr        Dodge      135.039  26.659s  + 0.264s
17.  Denny Hamlin          Toyota     134.938  26.679s  + 0.284s
18.  Paul Menard           Ford       134.917  26.683s  + 0.288s
19.  Ryan Newman           Chevrolet  134.917  26.683s  + 0.288s
20.  Tony Stewart          Chevrolet  134.821  26.702s  + 0.307s
21.  Jimmie Johnson        Chevrolet  134.816  26.703s  + 0.308s
22.  Jeff Gordon           Chevrolet  134.801  26.706s  + 0.311s
23.  Elliott Sadler        Ford       134.801  26.706s  + 0.311s
24.  Casey Mears           Toyota     134.766  26.713s  + 0.318s
25.  Kasey Kahne           Toyota     134.756  26.715s  + 0.320s
26.  Bobby Labonte         Chevrolet  134.494  26.767s  + 0.372s
27.  Scott Speed           Toyota     134.429  26.780s  + 0.385s
28.  Mark Martin           Chevrolet  134.393  26.787s  + 0.392s
29.  Kevin Harvick         Chevrolet  134.353  26.795s  + 0.400s
30.  Brad Keselowski       Dodge      134.273  26.811s  + 0.416s
31.  Dale Earnhardt Jr     Chevrolet  134.163  26.833s  + 0.438s
32.  Dave Blaney           Chevrolet  134.013  26.863s  + 0.468s
33.  JJ Yeley              Ford       133.943  26.877s  + 0.482s
34.  Robby Gordon          Toyota     133.650  26.936s  + 0.541s
35.  Juan Pablo Montoya    Chevrolet  133.625  26.941s  + 0.546s
36.  Mike Bliss            Toyota     133.611  26.944s  + 0.549s
37.  David Gilliland       Ford       133.492  26.968s  + 0.573s
38.  Travis Kvapil         Ford       133.383  26.990s  + 0.595s
39.  Landon Cassill        Toyota     133.343  26.998s  + 0.603s
40.  Jeff Burton           Chevrolet  133.318  27.003s  + 0.608s
41.  Brendan Gaughan       Chevrolet  132.197  27.232s  + 0.837s
42.  Tony Raines           Ford       130.938  27.494s  + 1.099s
43.  Terry Labonte         Dodge        Champion's Provisional