Edwards earns first pole of season with fast lap at BMS

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- For Carl Edwards, the roll continues.

Fresh from his fifth Sprint Cup victory in last Sunday's 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway, Edwards continued to show outstanding speed with in his pole-winning qualifying run at Bristol Motor Speedway.

After turning a lap in 15.745 seconds (121.860 mph) Friday at the .533-mile short track -- and brushing the wall in the process -- Edwards, the defending race winner, will lead the field to the green flag in Saturday's Sharpie 500 (watch video).

Sharpie 500

Race Lineup

Pos.	Driver	Speed
1.	Carl Edwards	121.860
2.	David Reutimann	121.175
3.	Jeff Gordon	121.121
4.	Regan Smith	121.083
5.	Bill Elliott	120.740
6.	Kevin Harvick	120.649
7.	Ken Schrader	120.634
8.	A.J. Allmendinger	120.588
9.	Kyle Busch	120.550
10.	Elliott Sadler	120.528

• Lineup | Videos | Photo Gallery

David Reutimann (121.175 mph) will start on the outside of the front row, followed by Jeff Gordon (121.121 mph), rookie Regan Smith (121.083 mph) and Bill Elliott (120.740 mph).

Kevin Harvick, Ken Schrader, A.J. Allmendinger, series points leader Kyle Busch and Elliott Sadler will start from positions 6-10.

"Bob Osborne [Edwards' crew chief] said if I didn't win the pole, he'd be really ticked off [because of the contact with the wall]," said Edwards, who claimed his first pole of the season and the fourth of his Cup career. "But if that's all the damage we see in the next 24 to 36 hours, we'll be all right.

"The pole's huge for us at this track. Obviously, track position and pit selection couldn't be more important."

Reutimann, whose previous best starting position was fifth at Talladega last October, was surprised by his qualifying speed.

"It was just a little free, but actually better than I thought it would be," Reutimann said. "I had to pedal it pretty hard coming off of Turn 2, because I got back to the gas pretty quick, and it shoved the front end a little bit."

Pleased with his high qualifying position, Gordon said fans need to get used to the "new," reconfigured Bristol, with its graduated banking and wider racing groove.

"I think we need to get used to great racing here being side-by-side racing, rather than wreck-each-other racing," Gordon said. "We've got more racing room here. There's still going to be bumping and banging, but it's not going to be like it was before, because it's not a one-groove racetrack anymore."

Friday's qualifying session may have dealt a blow to David Ragan's hopes of making the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Ragan lost control of the No. 6 Ford and slammed into the outside wall after sliding across the finish line to complete the 27th-fastest lap in time trials.

Ragan, who is tied for 13th in the Cup standings -- but only 26 points behind 12th-place Denny Hamlin -- will start from the rear of the field in a backup car (read more).

"I just got a little free, and I felt like I would have enough track to chase it and just didn't get out of the throttle," Ragan said. "In a normal situation I would have cracked the throttle and just slowed down a little bit, but I felt like I could hold on for that extra split-second and still get a good lap in. Our AAA Ford was fast in practice, so we'll have to put some of the same stuff that worked well in practice on our backup car and just try to make the best out of a bad situation."

Notes: Johnny Sauter, Patrick Carpentier and Jeff Green failed to qualify for the race. ... Smith's fourth-place starting position matches his career best. ... Elliott's fifth-place qualifying effort is his best since starting third in Fontana, Calif., in September 2004. ... Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start 40th on an owner points provisional after posting the 43rd-fastest time overall. ... Jamie McMurray and Michael Waltrip also needed provisionals to make the field.