NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Edwards Wins Homestead Pole
Carl Edwards posts fastest lap for Ford 400; Tony Stewart qualifies 15th...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted November 19, 2011   Homestead, FL
Carl Edwards will start his search for the Sprint Cup championship Sunday from the best of all possible positions – first.

Edwards easily won the pole Saturday afternoon for Sunday’s season-ending Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a speed of 175.467 miles per hour.

Tony Stewart, who trails Edwards by three points in the race for the championship, qualified 15th.

Following Edwards in the top five Saturday were Martin Truex Jr., Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski.

Edwards and Stewart are the only drivers with shots at winning the title Sunday. Edwards was impressive in both Saturday practices. Stewart was less so but said he was pleased with his car for Sunday’s showdown race.

“He put up a fast lap,” Stewart said of Edwards. “[But] his lap times fell off pretty hard in the one long run he did. Looking at that, that’s why I’m still really confident what we did was the right thing today. To look at that final practice doesn’t tell the story of that session.”

Pole wins certainly don’t guarantee victories, but qualifying first earns the winning team the first pit selection, and that can provide a critical difference.

“It was a very pleasant surprise to run that well,” Edwards said. “The big thing is pit selection. That’s hard to put a value on. That’s going to be a big help the whole race.”

Edwards won the pole easily. Truex Jr. was second at 174.808.

“We’ve still got to go run this race, and I know how tough those guys can be, so I’m not counting anything yet,” Edwards said. “We’re just going to keep our heads down and work hard and go get the best we can. If anything, this is just good for our morale and for everybody to go sleep easy tonight and know we’re going to have a good day on pit road.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to run out front and not get caught up in anything. But, truly, I understand that we still have to go run this race and anything can happen.”

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 29 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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