Hampton, GA – Carl Edwards claimed the pole for Saturday night's Great Clips 300 Nationwide Series race after topping the charts in qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Edwards, who was the second-to-last driver to make his qualifying attempt in the 45-car field, posted a lap at 179.452 mph around the fast 1.54-mile Atlanta track. He earned his fifth pole of the season and the 26th of his Nationwide career.
Brad Keselowski secured the outside pole with a lap at 178.075 mph. Keselowski, the 2010 series champion, is making his first start in the series since suffering a broken left ankle and a sore back from a crash while testing one month ago at Road Atlanta.
Kyle Busch qualified third, followed by his teammate, Ryan Truex, who is making his debut in the No.20 car for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the current points leader, grabbed the fifth starting position.
Trevor Bayne, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Elliott Sadler and Jamie McMurray, the defending race winner, qualified sixth through 10th, respectively.
Stenhouse holds just a five-point lead over Sadler and a 10-point advantage over Reed Sorenson, who will start 12th.
Brian Keselowski and Mike Harmon failed to qualify.
The 300-mile race at Atlanta is scheduled to start just after 7:30 p.m. (et).
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