Carl Edwards Grabs His Second Pole of the Season at Michigan

        With a time of 35.564 seconds (202.452 mph), Carl Edwards blew away the field and grabbed the pole for the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan. Being the sixth driver out on the track, it seemed like Edwards would be at a disadvantage since many other great cars had not made their qualifying run. It did not matter to Edwards as he laid down a lap within 1 and a half tenths of the track record set by Marcos Ambrose in qualifying last year. It was not easy because his time had to outlast laps from drivers like Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne, Aric Almirola, Joey Logano, and Austin Dillon. With thirteen drivers over 200 miles per hour, it was a very competitive qualifying session.

        Jeff Gordon was the first driver out on the track. He ran quicker than he did in practice, but he was quickly passed by Greg Biffle for the provisional pole and he ended up 29th in the lineup. The pole switched back and forth between the first five drivers until Carl Edwards laid down his blistering lap. Aric Almirola made the first charge, but he only made a lap within four tenths of Edwards' lap. Kasey Kahne made the second charge, but he only made a lap within two tenths of Edwards' lap. But there was one more bullet left for Edwards to dodge: Kurt Busch. Busch has had a fast car the past few weeks and this weekend is no different. He went out on the track for his lap and he was extremely quick. He made a hard fought run, but he only came within a tenth of Edwards' lap. With Casey Mears lap, the qualifying session ended and Carl Edwards had his twelfth career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole.

        Carl Edwards has one win this season and quietly sits second in the points behind Jimmie Johnson. Since Johnson only mustered a 17th place qualifying run, Edwards will look to take this momentum and gain some points on him. It should be a fairly good race with some contenders at the front looking to stay there and some contenders at the back looking to make their way to the front. Speaking of the race, it will be a Father's Day special on Sunday that is definitely not going to disappoint. 
(More Stats Down Below!)




Top 5 Qualifiers (With Times):
1st: Carl Edwards     35.564 (202.452 mph)
2nd: Kurt Busch    35.665 (201.879 mph)
3rd: Kasey Kahne    35.783 (201.213 mph)
4th: Paul Menard    35.856 (200.803 mph)
5th: Aric Almirola    35.863 (200.764 mph)

Notables Not in Top 5 (With Times):
8th: Matt Kenseth    35.898 (200.568 mph)
9th: Kyle Busch     35.918 (200.457 mph)
12th: Dale Earnhardt Jr.     35.982 (200.100 mph)
14th: Tony Stewart     36.038 (199.789 mph)
17th: Jimmie Johnson     36.056 (199.689 mph)
21st: Kevin Harvick     36.139 (199.231 mph)
29th: Jeff Gordon     36.378 (197.922 mph)

Provisional Starters (With Times):
37th: Danica Patrick     36.942 (194.900 mph)
38th: Josh Wise     37.131 (193.908 mph)
39th: Ken Schrader     37.288 (193.092 mph)
40th: J.J. Yeley     37.313 (192.962 mph)
41st: Travis Kvapil     37.338 (192.833 mph)
42nd: Joe Nemechek     37.502 (191.990 mph)
43rd: Mike Bliss    38.472 (187.149 mph)

DNQ (With Time):
44th: Scott Riggs    39.047 (184.393 mph)




Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Statistics:
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series/leaderboard/leaderboard-qualification.html
-Image:
http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/G20X.VXI2y3L0WoiQHJInQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NQ--/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/sptusnascarmarbles/d0614edwards.jpg