Edwards grabs pole at Michigan with 202 mph lap

Brooklyn, MI – Carl Edwards will start on the pole for the Quicken Loans 400 after posting the fastest lap in Friday's qualifying at Michigan International Speedway.

Edwards turned a lap around this fast 2-mile racetrack at 202.452 mph for his 12th career pole in the Sprint Cup Series but his first since the 2012 Daytona 500 (49 races ago). The Roush Fenway Racing driver also gave Ford its first pole this season.

"This pole for us is huge," said Edwards, who scored his first pole in his 18th start at Michigan. "We've been very close all year. The guys (No. 99 Roush Fenway team) have been working really hard."

Edwards has won at Michigan twice (June 2007 and August 2008). He enters this race second in the point standings.

Thirteen drivers surpassed 200 mph in qualifying. When the series competed on the track's new surface for the first time one year ago, Marcos Ambrose set a track qualifying record of 203.241 mph.

Kurt Busch earned the outside pole with a lap at 201.879 mph.

"It was a great lap," Busch said. "It's amazing how close it comes down after a two-mile run. Carl posted a fast lap early on. I just wanted to go after it. We just came up a tenth (of a second) shy. The good news is we keep unloading fast. We are right there in the mix."

Kasey Kahne qualified third, followed by Paul Menard and Aric Almirola.

Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya completed the top-10.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., the defending race winner, qualified 12th, while his teammate and current points leader Jimmie Johnson was 17th. Johnson won his third race of the season last Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

Tony Stewart placed 14th in a backup car. Earlier in the day, Stewart's primary car was damaged when he made contact with the wall.

Danica Patrick will start 37th after running her lap at 194.900 mph.

Scott Riggs was the only driver who failed to qualify for Sunday's 400-mile race at Michigan, which is scheduled to start just after 1 p.m. ET.