Edwards captures Kobalt Tools 500 pole at Phoenix

[media-credit name=”Mike Finnegan” align=”alignleft” width=”250″][/media-credit]Carl Edwards captured the pole for Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Phoenix International Raceway with a track-record lap of 136.389 MPH (26.395 secs).

“That was a really good lap.  Bob did a really good job.  We were fastest in practice, but it was a 27.65, I think, and that lap was a 27.30 something, so the track picked up so much.  I was really nervous that the handling would be different. ”  Edwards said.

AJ Allmendinger qualified second, Kurt Busch third, Greg Biffle fourth and Jamie McMurray qualified fifth.  The top three positions all broke the track record.

The three championship contenders will start near each other.  Denny Hamlin qualified 17th, Jimmie Johnson 21st and Kevin Harvick qualified 29th.

“We wanted the pole. That is what we worked on all day was to have a car that could do that. Had a really good balance in practice and certainly hoped to pick up enough to get the pole here today. The further forward you can start, everything is just so much better for you. It is a short race. Track position helps there. Pit road pick. The better we qualify, the happier we are going to be.” Johnson said.

“I wish I would have been a little further to the front.  But, it looked like I might have got on the splitter a little bit hard.” Hamlin said.

RACE LINEUP

Kobalt Tools 500, Phoenix International Raceway

November 14, 2010 – Race 35 of 36