Carl Edwards Bests Brad Keselowski By Two Thousandths of a Second to Take the Pole at Texas

            With a lap of 27.535 seconds (196.114 mph), Carl Edwards bested Brad Keselowski by only two thousandths of a second to take the pole at Texas. If that doesn't sound close, that actually equates out to be only seven inches. Yes, that is seven inches on a one and a half mile race track. That is absolutely astonishing, in my opinion. In fact, those seven inches were made up coming out of turn 4 for Edwards. Edwards got a great run off of turn 4 and powered to the line to take his second pole of the season. It is also a great momentum boost for Edwards. He hasn't had the best Chase so far, but this pole could just give him enough boost to take a couple of wins before the season reaches a conclusion at Homestead. It was once again so close for Brad Keselowski. He has struggled a good bit this season and he once again just missed a great opportunity to gain some momentum heading into next season. Don't feel sad for him yet, though, because he could just take the win as the cars hit the track on Sunday afternoon. It was another close qualifying session for Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth, the two major points contenders with three races left. Johnson qualified third while Kenseth qualified sixth for the race at Texas. With the two being tied in the points and being so close on race day, this battle for the points could be one of the best ever. All in all, it was a very slippery session for most of the drivers with a lot of drivers fighting their cars and some even losing them in the corners. 

         Joey Logano was the first driver on track. He ran a lap that was a few tenths faster than his practice time, but it was early in the session and it would be interesting to see where he would fall when it was all said and done. He would not hold the pole long as Jimmie Johnson went out seventh and took the pole easily from Logano. Johnson did have a major slide coming off of turn 4 and made the slightest contact with the wall, but he powered it to the line for the provisional pole. It looked like he would have no competition for the pole, but it was still very early. The first problem of the session occurred only a couple of drivers later with J.J. Yeley. Coming out of turn 4 on his first lap, Yeley broke loose and began to slide. He slid all the way down the track and through the frontstretch grass. He kicked up some grass as his car straightened. He was able to continue on without damage to complete a slow lap, but he is still in the field because only forty three cars attempted. After Yeley's minor spin, the drivers left began to click down. Pretty soon, only twenty remained to try and outdo Jimmie Johnson. Even more drivers clicked by and only thirteen drivers remained with Brad Keselowski next out. Keselowski went out and he had a smooth turns 1 through 3. All he had to do was make it through turn 4. His car slid up the track and came as close to the wall as a driver can without hitting it, but he was still able to muscle it across the line and take the pole from Johnson. Only twelve drivers remained after Keselowski and he looked to be in control, but that would change. The laps once again started to click off and only four drivers were left with Carl Edwards making it three left. Edwards went out and had a solid first corner, but he made a huge slide exiting turn 2. He held on and stayed in the gas, but it looked like his pole chances were over. He drove it hard into turn 3 and gunned it into turn 4. This is where he made his remarkable rally. The tenths began to tick off as he came to the line. He made it through the first part of the dog leg and flashed across the line two thousandths of a second ahead of Keselowski's lap. This gave Edwards the pole with only three drivers left. Paul Menard, Casey Mears, and Marcos Ambrose could not surpass him and Edwards became a two time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole winner in 2013. It was a fantastic show by Edwards to take the pole and one that could be very helpful for his chances to win come race day.

          What a dash to the line that was for Edwards. Personally, I have never seen a driver make up that much time in only one turn and part of a frontstretch. I mean, he was between two and three tenths down in turn 4 and crossed the line ahead of Keselowski's lap. It was definitely an impressive battle and one that could be one of the most impressive for a qualifying session this year. It was definitely a troublesome qualifying session for some. J.J. Yeley went for a spin exiting turn 4. Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski came so close to the wall with Johnson making slight contact. Others like Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kurt Busch slid around for most of the time during their laps. If that is the action that we see during the race on Sunday, it is going to be a great fight and one of the greatest races of the season. Plus, the championship battle continued to stay close with Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth qualifying almost back to back. All this sets up for the five hundred mile race at Texas that should be just like the victory lane celebration: guns blazing. With all these story lines, it would definitely be one that I would not want to miss. I hope you guys can catch the craziness that will be the shootout at Texas on Sunday afternoon.
(More Stats Down Below!)




Top 5 Qualifiers (With Times):
1st: Carl Edwards      27.535 (196.114 mph)
2nd: Brad Keselowski     27.537 (196.100 mph)
3rd: Jimmie Johnson       27.559 (195.943 mph)
4th: Paul Menard      27.574 (195.837 mph)
5th: Kyle Busch      27.582 (195.780 mph)

Notables Not in Top 5 (With Times):
6th: Matt Kenseth     27.619 (195.518 mph)
7th: Dale Earnhardt Jr.      27.648 (195.312 mph)
8th: Jeff Gordon      27.668 (195.171 mph)
11th: Kasey Kahne      27.740 (194.665 mph)
12th: Joey Logano     27.761 (194.517 mph)
13th: Ryan Newman      27.780 (194.384 mph)
18th: Greg Biffle     27.890 (193.618 mph)
19th: Kevin Harvick       27.892 (193.604 mph)
26th: Clint Bowyer       28.008 (192.802 mph)
31st: Kurt Busch       28.210 (191.421 mph)

DNQs: None




Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Statistics:
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series/leaderboard/leaderboard-qualification.html
http://www.jayski.com/stats/2013/pdfs/34tms2013qualorder.pdf
http://racing-reference.info/getqualify/2013-34/W
-Image:
https://twitter.com/NASCAR/status/396413450340954112/photo/1