Carl Edwards is leading the points battle, but it was his three teammates that fired the first shots Friday at Texas Motor Speedway, racing to the top of the board in qualifying for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500.
Greg Biffle isn’t battling for NASCAR’s Chase For The Sprint Cup title, but the veteran is still digging for a return to victory lane before season’s end.
Biffle’s lap of 193.736 mph, the last to make a qualifying attempt, was enough to knock David Ragan (193.729) off the top spot. Matt Kenseth (193.659) will start third.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow, that’s for dang sure,” said Biffle, adding that he only got in eight total laps during Friday’s lone practice session while his team focused on its qualifying package. Scene Daily
Paul Menard (193.437 mph) was fourth, followed by Stewart (193.257 mph), who trails Edwards by eight points with three races left in the season.
Biffle, who won six poles in his previous nine years in Cup races, credited new crew chief Matt Puccia and NASCAR’s new system for determining qualifying order with his improved qualifying efforts this season.
“Ever since Matt came on board [in July], we have put a little more emphasis on qualifying,” Biffle said. “The draw for qualifying goes off of practice speeds. It kind of forced our hand to come here on Friday and start in qualifying trim, which we never [did before].
“The rules have forced us into getting a good draw for qualifying, so it’s up to us [rather than by random draw]. I made a total of seven laps today—now eight. That’s all I’ve done today. NASCAR.com
David Reutimann, Carl Edwards, the current points leader, Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne and Regan Smith completed the top-10.
With three races to go, Edwards holds just an eight-point advantage over Stewart. Edwards has the most victories at Texas with three.
“We wanted to be a little bit better than that,” Edwards said after his seventh-place finish in qualifying. “It is a good starting spot. We focused hard on qualifying here. Fox News
Kevin Harvick, who is third in points, qualified 21st.
Johnson is sixth in points, 43 points behind of Edwards and knowing he needs a lot of help for any chance to extend his championship streak.
“I don’t see Tony or Carl having any bad tracks moving forward. … I think we are going to have a shootout until the end,” Johnson said. “If something does happen with either one of them obviously, it opens the door for a bunch of other guys, but I just don’t see any big mistakes coming from those guys, but time will tell.” USA Today
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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: AAA Texas 500 at Texas - Race Line-Up
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