NASCAR Michigan: Carl Edwards takes pole in Cup qualifying
Carl Edwards took pole position for this weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan
The Roush Fenway driver set his lap of 35.564s (202.452mph) early in the session, as he was the sixth of 44 cars to run.
For a while it seemed as if Edwards would have a relatively straightforward wait to be declared the polesitter as it appeared he had enjoyed the best of the track conditions, with only Kasey Kahne getting near his time in the cars that followed.
However, Paul Menard offered a hint that the track was still quick when he went third, behind Kahne, in the closing stages, and attention then turned to Furniture Row's Kurt Busch, who was one of the last to run.
Busch ended up missing out by one tenth of a second, but he did enough to join Edwards on the front row at the expense of Kahne.
Menard's lap was eventually good enough for fourth, while Aric Almirola and Joey Logano will share row three on the grid.
Next up was Nationwide Series frontrunner Austin Dillon, making his fifth Cup start of the season for Richard Childress Racing, while behind him Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya completed the top 10.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford 35.564s 2. Kurt Busch Furniture Row Chevrolet 35.665s + 0.101s 3. Kasey Kahne Hendrick Chevrolet 35.783s + 0.219s 4. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet 35.856s + 0.292s 5. Aric Almirola Petty Ford 35.863s + 0.299s 6. Joey Logano Penske Ford 35.870s + 0.306s 7. Austin Dillon Childress Chevrolet 35.887s + 0.323s 8. Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Toyota 35.898s + 0.334s 9. Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Toyota 35.918s + 0.354s 10. Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 35.920s + 0.356s 11. Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Toyota 35.927s + 0.363s 12. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet 35.982s + 0.418s 13. Martin Truex Jr Waltrip Toyota 35.991s + 0.427s 14. Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 36.038s + 0.474s 15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Fenway Ford 36.043s + 0.479s 16. Brad Keselowski Penske Ford 36.045s + 0.481s 17. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet 36.056s + 0.492s 18. Jeff Burton Childress Chevrolet 36.062s + 0.498s 19. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 36.112s + 0.548s 20. Bobby Labonte Phoenix Chevrolet 36.116s + 0.552s 21. Kevin Harvick Childress Chevrolet 36.139s + 0.575s 22. Mark Martin Waltrip Toyota 36.142s + 0.578s 23. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 36.237s + 0.673s 24. Casey Mears Germain Ford 36.255s + 0.691s 25. Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Ford 36.285s + 0.721s 26. David Gilliland Front Row Ford 36.297s + 0.733s 27. Clint Bowyer Waltrip Toyota 36.310s + 0.746s 28. Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 36.349s + 0.785s 29. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 36.378s + 0.814s 30. Michael McDowell Parsons Ford 36.508s + 0.944s 31. David Ragan Front Row Ford 36.583s + 1.019s 32. AJ Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Toyota 36.587s + 1.023s 33. David Reutimann BK Toyota 36.683s + 1.119s 34. David Stremme Swan Toyota 36.685s + 1.121s 35. Ryan Newman Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 36.784s + 1.220s 36. Dave Blaney Baldwin Chevrolet 36.826s + 1.262s 37. Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 36.942s + 1.378s 38. Josh Wise Front Row Ford 37.131s + 1.567s 39. Ken Schrader FAS Lane Ford 37.288s + 1.724s 40. JJ Yeley Baldwin Chevrolet 37.313s + 1.749s 41. Travis Kvapil BK Toyota 37.338s + 1.774s 42. Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota 37.502s + 1.938s 43. Mike Bliss Humphrey Smith Toyota 38.472s + 2.908s
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