LOUDON, N.H. - As Carl Edwards put it, “things just feel right.”
That was Edwards’ take on the state of affairs at Joe Gibbs Racing, after he put his No. 19 Toyota on the pole for Sunday’s 5-Hour ENERGY 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“Right now it just feels right,” said Edwards, who toured the Magic Mile in 28.179 seconds (135.164 mph) in Friday’s qualifying session to earn his first Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his first at New Hampshire and the 14th of his career.
“It’s just cool, man. My expectation is to do the best we can (on Sunday). My hope is that we win this thing. … We’ve been working very hard to bring this team together to be the best that we can be. It just feels right. This is cool. It’s a lot of fun.”
With JGR teammate Kyle Busch winning last Saturday’s event at Kentucky, the organization placed all its drivers in the top five, with Denny Hamlin, Edwards and Matt Kenseth trailing second-place Joey Logano of Team Penske.
Coincidentally, Logano (135.021 mph) qualified second to Edwards on Friday, with Michael Waltrip Racing’s David Ragan third (also at 135.021 mph) and Busch (134.025 mph) and Hamlin (134.601 mph) fourth and fifth, respectively.
Edwards, who improved dramatically on his previous average starting position of 14.9 at New Hampshire, didn’t believe initially that he had won the pole until he got reassurance from crew chief Darian Grubb.
On the other hand, Logano wasn’t particularly thrilled to run second to a Gibbs driver for the second time in six days.
“Second—it seems like the story of our week, coming off Kentucky with a strong second-place run and then qualifying second here as well,” Logano said. “Not that I’m complaining about it, but it’s not much fun finishing second, being so close to getting trophies and pole flags and all the fun stuff.
“There’s not really much fun that happens when you finish second, but we’re close. We’ve got speed in our race car once again.”
Danica Patrick advanced to the second round of knockout qualifying and will start 20th, one spot behind Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Jeff Gordon, still seeking his first victory in his last season of full-time Sprint Cup racing, will start 23rd.
“Yeah, it’s not been a good day for us with the No. 24 car,” Gordon acknowledged. “We’ve been struggling getting the car to do what we need it to do. Just real tight through the center, need to get it to rotate, need some front grip, so we will go to work on it (Saturday in practice).
“It’s disappointing that we didn’t qualify better. We typically qualify well here and perform well here. We’ll put this day behind us and go work on it tomorrow and get it ready for Sunday.”
Notes: Reed Sorenson failed to make the 43-car field. … Logano posted the fastest speed in Friday’s time trials (135.448 mph) when he paced the second of the three knockout rounds, but it’s the final round that determines the pole winner.
WDUN will have live PRN Radio coverage of Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 5-Hour Energy 301 from New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, NH beginning at 12:30 pm Sunday on 102.9 FM and at 1 pm on 550 AM.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
New Hampshire Motor Speedway – Loudon, NH
5-Hour Energy 301 – July 17, 2015
Starting Line Up
1. 19 Carl Edwards Sport Clips Toyota 28.179 135.164
2. 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 28.209 135.021
3. 55 David Ragan Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota 28.209 135.021
4. 18 Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Toyota 28.271 134.725
5. 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Freight Toyota 28.297 134.601
6. 41 Kurt Busch Haas Automation Chevrolet 28.298 134.596
7. 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet 28.318 134.501
8. 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General Toyota 28.333 134.430
9. 5 Kasey Kahne Great Clips Chevrolet 28.340 134.397
10. 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Ford 28.419 134.023
11. 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald’s/Cessna Chevrolet 28.424 133.999
12. 4 Kevin Harvick Jimmy John’s/Budweiser Chevrolet 28.511 133.591
13. 40 Landon Cassill(i) Interstate Moving Services/Precon Marine Inc. 28.387 134.174
14. 16 Greg Biffle Safety-Kleen Ford 28.408 134.075
15. 78 Martin Truex, Jr. Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet 28.415 134.042
16. 21 Ryan Blaney(i) SKF Ford 28.422 134.009
17. 42 Kyle Larson Target Chevrolet 28.466 133.802
18. 15 Clint Bowyer 5-Hour Energy Toyota 28.469 133.788
19. 88 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Nationwide Chevrolet 28.538 133.464
20. 10 Danica Patrick GoDaddy Chevrolet 28.541 133.450
21. 13 Casey Mears GEICO Chevrolet 28.551 133.403
22. 47 A.J. Allmendinger Better Than Bouillon Chevrolet 28.598 133.184
23. 24 Jeff Gordon AARP Member Advantages Chevrolet 28.623 133.068
24. 3 Austin Dillon Dow Chevrolet 28.654 132.924
25. 14 Tony Stewart Mobil 1 Chevrolet 28.664 132.877
26. 31 Ryan Newman Quicken Loans Chevrolet 28.699 132.715
27. 9 Sam Hornish, Jr. Shaws/Smithfield Ford 28.719 132.623
28. 27 Paul Menard Richmond/Menards Chevrolet 28.722 132.609
29. 43 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 28.739 132.531
30. 51 Justin Allgaier Brandt Chevrolet 28.740 132.526
31. 6 Trevor Bayne AdvoCare Ford 28.770 132.388
32. 17 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Fastenal Ford 28.817 132.172
33. 35 Cole Whitt Taco Bell Ford 28.832 132.103
34. 34 Brett Moffitt # Dockside Logistics Ford 28.930 131.656
35. 83 Matt DiBenedetto # Burger King Toyota 28.993 131.370
36. 26 Jeb Burton # Maxim Fantasy Sports Toyota 29.081 130.972
37. 38 David Gilliland MDS Ford Owner Points
38. 46 Michael Annett Pilot Flying J Chevrolet Owner Points
39. 23 J.J. Yeley(i) Dr Pepper Toyota Owner Points
40. 7 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet Owner Points
41. 32 Eddie MacDonald DraftDemons.com Ford Owner Points
42. 33 Derek White(i) Braille Battery/Grafoid Chevrolet Owner Points
43. 98 Timmy Hill(i) Residence Inn Ford Owner Points
Did Not Qualify
# 62 Reed Sorenson
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
http://accesswdun.com/article/2015/7/323878/edwards-is-surprised-sprint-cup-pole-winner-at-nhms