Carl Edwards, for the 20th time of his Sprint Cup Series career, wins the pole for Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen International.
At a lap time of 1:09.689 seconds, the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota beat Kyle Larson by 0.182 seconds to earn his second pole at The Glen.
“I’m really proud of this pole,” Edwards said. “My road course career started pretty rough. I’m really proud of doing well at these places. Now we have to put it together and get a win here.”
Behind second-place Larson is Tony Stewart, who will begin his last road course start from the third spot. Racing here for only the second time since 2012, Stewart will aim for a sixth and final win on Sunday.
Looking deeper in the field, you’ll find a number of high-profiles drivers who struggled to advance to Round 2 of qualifying.
Rolling from 13th, Jimmie Johnson is followed by the likes of Martin Truex, Jr., Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon outside the top 12.
Completing the top-10 starters include Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, AJ Allmendinger and Jamie McMurray.
Michael McDowell brought a season-best result for Circle Sport Leavine Family Racing, ending 11th quickest.
“I think it’s a great qualifying effort for us,” McDowell said. “We always want more, that’s the hard thing. I thought we had a shot at being in the top 5 there, just didn’t have the last little bit.”
Alex Kennedy and Boris Said will roll off 36th and 27th on Sunday, each making their 2016 Cup Series debuts.
Click Here for full qualifying results from The Glen
About the author
Growing up in Easton, Pa., Zach Catanzareti has grown his auto racing interest from fandom to professional. Joining Frontstretch in 2015, Zach enjoys nothing more than being at the track, having covered his first half-season of 18 races in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2017. With experience behind the wheel, behind the camera and in the media center, he thrives on being an all-around reporter.
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93 more and he’ll match Pearson.