NASCAR-CUP: Edwards blows to Daytona 500 pole
Joe Jennings, NASCAR correspondent
With the wind blowing around 25 miles per hour, Carl Edwards did the best he could, which was good enough for the pole position for the Daytona 500. Driving the Fastenal Ford, the plucky Missouri native toured the 2.5-mile oval at 194.738 miles per hour to gain his first Daytona 500 pole and the 11th in his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career.
Today’s pole speed was the fastest at the Daytona International Speedway since Jeff Gordon’s 1999 pole run at 195.067 mph.
Joining Edwards on the front row for the Daytona 500 will be teammate Greg Biffle, who topped the speed charts in pre-qualification practice. Biffle’s speed today was at 194.087 mph, a disappointing run for the Washington native. He drove the 3M Ford.
It’s so neat to come down here and to be so fast and to really have fun qualifying here.
For Roush Fenway Racing, which owns both two cars, it took the pole position for the second time and gave them its first sweep. Ford Racing has swept the front row twice before with Robert Yates Racing, doing so in 2000 and 2007, and Ford has now accumulated 12 Daytona poles.
Edwards and Biffle earned guaranteed starting positions for next Sunday’s Daytona 500, the only two to do so. The remaining 41 positions will be determined through the results of the Gatorade Duel races, cars ranked in the top-35 in points in 2011, the top two non-top 35 teams from each Duel, and the three fastest non-top 35 teams and the most recent eligible past NASCAR Sprint Cup champion.
Qualifying for the Daytona 500 often is misunderstood, as the process differs from that followed for the other 35 Sprint Cup races.
“I’m really happy with the time,” Edwards said. “This is a very, very speedy Fastenal Fusion, and I appreciate Bob Osborne and all the work he’s done, and the engines are so important (giving credit to Doug Yates). It’s so neat to come down here and to be so fast and to really have fun qualifying here. We’ve struggled so much in the past and so many guys have put so much effort in this off-season.”
Regarding the turbulent winds, he added, “The wind was scary, and it really does make the lap times different. The wind was blowing down the back straightaway, and I could feel the RPM building to a higher RPM than we’ve seen in single-car runs.”
Said crew chief Chip Bolin, “Our goal was to sit on the pole and run the fastest lap we can. We felt like this was our best crop of super-speedway cars in a long time, and we just executive the plan.”
“We did great today,” co-owner Jack Roush said. “Doug Yates and the guys in the engine shop did a nice job. Robbie Reiser and the folks in the chassis and body shop built nice cars, and the teams prepared them well. We worked all winter getting ready for this; it is just the beginning.”
Commented Jamie Allison, director, Ford Racing, “What a way to start the season. Today is a day for all Ford fans to be happy and celebrate.”
Based on practice runs, Biffle thought he had a good possibility of earning the pole, but it didn’t work out. “I’m a little disappointed; I hate the wind,” he commented. “I guess if you’re out sailing, it’s good, but coming down the front (stretch), I was 200 RPM more on my first lap than I was on my fast lap. That clearly is at least a 10th, a 10th and a half to 2/10ths of a second. I was so slow going into turn 1 that I’m surprised to be second. It is just the luck of the draw.”
A year ago Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the pole position at 186.089 mph and even though he hit 194.028 mph today, it was the third fastest time recorded. “I had a shot at the pole as the car had a good push down the back straightaway from the wind, but we underestimated how fast it was going to carry the car into (turn) 3,” he said. “We got the splitter onto the track a little bit and had we not done that we would have been a 1/10th faster. “
Edwards, Biffle and Earnhardt were the only drivers to exceed the 194 mph mark.
Marcos Ambrose qualified the Stanley Ford fourth at 193.999 mph and Casey Mears timed fifth fastest in the GEICO Ford at 193.844 mph, giving Ford four of the top-five fastest qualifiers.
Jeff Gordon timed sixth in a Chevrolet and Martin Truex Jr. gave Toyota its best effort with a seventh. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was eighth followed by Trevor Bayne in ninth. The 2011 Daytona 500 winner celebrated his 21st birthday today.
Tony Stewart rounded out the top 10 qualifiers.
Mark Martin (Toyota) and Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet) were 11th and 12th, respectively.
For Dodge, its best times were 18th and 19th by A. J. Allmendinger and Brad Keselowski. Danica Patrick continued to be in the spotlight and she timed at 191.738 mph or 29th fastest, somewhat disappointing for her as she wanted to do better. “I hit my shifts and tried to be smooth, but there wasn’t a lot more that I could do,” she said. “I watched videos from other drivers this morning and looked at their lines. I turned on the banking a little quicker based on the videos. I thought we were going to be a little quicker as we were fast in January practice, so it hasn’t completed translated the way we thought it would but it is not the end of the world.”
The high-profile driver said she expects to learn a lot from Thursday’s Duel, from running in a pack to racing against certain drivers. “Trust me I will be studying that last pass between Tony (Stewart) and Kyle (Busch) to see when the perfect time is to make the pass.”
Patrick said qualifying at Daytona is much easier than it is for the Indianapolis 500. “Indianapolis is something that is a little more difficult, and every year it got more difficult than the one before,” she said. “Daytona is very straight-forward. To say I wasn’t nervous though is a lie. I wanted to do a good job and at Daytona, nothing is anti-climactic.”
Clint Bowyer’s Toyota failed post-qualifying inspection (front left of car was too low) and his qualifying time was disallowed. As a result, Bowyer will start in the rear of one Gatorade Duel.
Of the 14 cars in the “go or go-home category,” Bayne, Tony Raines and David Stremme were the fastest of the group, yielding them starting spots in the Daytona 500.
Overall, Bayne was ninth fastest in speed while Raines and Stremme were 25th and 26th, respectively.
Through the Gatorade Duel events on Thursday, the other 11 cars in this category will have another opportunity to race their way into the Great American race.
The track will be closed Monday and Tuesday and re-open Wednesday with Sprint Cup practice followed Thursday with the Gatorade Duel events.
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