FORT WORTH, Texas (November 1, 2013) – Roush Fenway Racing driver Carl Edwards won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole position for the AAA Texas 500 during Friday’s Pinnacle Propane Qualifying Days at Texas Motor Speedway.
Edwards (No. 99 Aflac Ford), qualifying 40th out of 43 cars, knocked reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Miller Lite Ford) off the pole by .002 of a second with a lap of 196.114 miles per hour. The lap was just shy of the track record of 196.299 mph established by Kyle Busch during April’s NRA 500.
For Edwards, it is his second pole of the season – the other came at Michigan – and his first career pole at Texas Motor Speedway. His previous-best start at Texas was second on two occasions, both of which came in the spring race (2008, ’11).
Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) and Matt Kenseth (No. 20 Home Depot “Let’s Do This” Toyota), currently deadlocked for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, will start a row apart as Johnson qualified third (195.943 mph) for the inside of Row 2 and Kenseth sixth (195.518 mph) for the outside of Row 3.
Sandwiched between the two will be Paul Menard (No. 27 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet), who qualified fourth at 195.837 mph, and Kyle Busch (No. 18 Snickers Toyota), who was fifth at 195.780 mph.
Other notables were Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 AMP Energy Gold/7-Eleven Chevrolet) qualifying seventh, Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet) eighth, Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet) 19th and Danica Patrick (No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet) 30th.
The final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practices for the AAA Texas 500 will be held Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. CT for a 55-minute session and 1 p.m. for a 50-minute session. The AAA Texas 500, the eighth race in the 10-event Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, will be held Sunday, beginning at 2 p.m.
Tickets for the AAA Texas 500 are available by visiting www.texasmotorspeedway.com or by calling the speedway ticket office at (817) 215-8500.
