Carl Edwards wins pole at Texas Motor Speedway

Carl Edwards, driver of the #19 Stanley Toyota, poses with the Coors Light Pole Award after qualifying for the pole position for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 8, 2016 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Carl Edwards, driver of the #19 Stanley Toyota, poses with the Coors Light Pole Award after qualifying for the pole position for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 8, 2016 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Carl Edwards, driver of the #19 Stanley Toyota, poses with the Coors Light Pole Award after qualifying for the pole position for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 8, 2016 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Carl Edwards was the first car out in all three of NASCAR’s knockout qualifying sessions Friday and that might have helped.  Edwards put down a lap of 27.74 second, 195.21 miles per hour early in the final five minute session around the 1.5 mile Texas Motor Speedway and secured the pole for Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Duck Commander 500.

“This is a fun place to race,” Edwards a three time Texas winner said. “The tire, I don’t know what the other guys feel, the tire and downforce package for me lets me feel like I can go into the corner and move around and feel the tire underneath me. Even in qualifying, there were times when I got a little sideways and it slid a little bit and I could recover and that’s really fun as a race car driver.”

It was the 17th career pole for Edwards and his second at Texas, the last coming in the fall of 2013. Joey Logano last week’s pole winner continued his hot qualifying streak nearly stealing the pole from Edwards but coming up just short. Logano will start second on the front row for his second consecutive race and his third front row start of 2016.

“It’s funny because where we were really good, we were really good in (Turns) 1 and 2,” Logano said. “That’s where we beating the No. 19 (Edwards).  And then I went in there the last time and it didn’t turn like it was, and I was like, ‘Oh, no!’ It was our good area and we actually fixed (Turns) 3 and 4 to where we were pretty good down there.”

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Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.