Leading a Joe Gibbs Racing cavalcade, Carl Edwards captured the pole position while teammates Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch all qualified fifth or better Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway.
NASCAR Bristol 2016 qualifying results: Carl Edwards wins pole, Joe Gibbs Racing dominates
Edwards and his three JGR teammates all qualified fifth or better Friday.
Having posted his pole-winning lap (127.997 mph) in the early minutes, Edwards watched nervously as Kenseth, Hamlin and Busch all attempted to prevent him from taking the No. 1 starting position for a second consecutive week.
“The trick is not to watch,” Edwards said. “I was half paying attention, but I don’t really want to know until after it’s over.
Bristol is a continuation of JGR’s strong start to the season. Busch enters the weekend on a roll with two victories in a row, Hamlin won the Daytona 500 and Edwards has finished 10th or better in six of seven races and sits fourth in points. Only Matt Kenseth has lagged behind with just a single top-10, though that’s offset by him being in position to win several times.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Edwards said. “It’s a real testament to Coach (Joe) Gibbs. ... Everybody just builds the best cars they can and everybody works together as well as I’ve ever worked with people.
“It’s cool to be a part of something like that where everybody is competitive and we’re all pushing forward, but we’re also helping one another. It’s really neat. That doesn’t always yield great results like it is right now, but it is and I’m just going to enjoy it. It’s really neat to be a part of it.”
Breaking up the JGR monopoly Friday was Team Penske’s Joey Logano, who will pursue his third Bristol win in four races from the third position Sunday. Jimmie Johnson qualified sixth, Kevin Harvick seventh, Martin Truex Jr. eighth, AJ Allmendinger ninth and Trevor Bayne 10th.
An incident involving Ty Dillon and Landon Cassill momentarily slowed the first of three sessions. Dillon, driving for the injured Tony Stewart, got loose exiting Turn 2 and spun down the track and into the back of Cassill, who was circling slowly having just completed his lap.
“Probably one of my most embarrassing moments in racing,” Dillon said. “I was coming off the corner there and getting up to speed and I clipped the apron and slid into the No. 38 car. ... I am just disappointed in myself in making a mental mistake in getting up to speed there. Just real disappointed, but we will come back tomorrow, forget about it, and go forward.”
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