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Carl Edwards won the pole for Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race at the Sonoma Raceway road circuit on Saturday.

Edwards peeled off a lap the 1.99-mile course at 95.777 mph (1:14.799) in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Edwards, who had the fastest lap of the day during the first session of qualifying, said, “We have a very fast race car and the first round went really well. I went out there and probably made one of the better laps that I’ve ever run here and I didn’t need that 10 or 15 minute break – that gave me a lot of time to think about my laps and so the second lap actually went really well, but I thought it was a little faster than that. We kind of narrowly got the pole. I’m really proud of my guys.

AJ Allmendinger was second at 95.676 mph (1:14.878) in a JTG Daugherty Chevrolet.

“It was a struggle yesterday,” Allmendinger said of Friday’s practice. “We just never could really find the direction of the car. All my guys did a great job to get to work, to get this car closer to the front.

“When I saw Carl’s first lap, I said, ‘I don’t care what kind of lap I run—if he runs that again I’m not going to get close.’ Then, after I saw it was less than a tenth (of a second), you sort of nit-pick, but it’s definitely a big gain from where we were yesterday.”

Martin Truex Jr. (95.672 mph) qualified third, followed by Kurt Busch (95.654 mph) and Kyle Larson (95.362 mph). Seventh-place qualifier Joey Logano (95.276 mph) had the fastest Ford.

“That’s better than where we were last year,” said Logano, the Sprint Cup Series’ most recent winner (Michigan). “We were (19th) last year, so we’ve improved. I thought I had a shot after the first round but lost some grip the second round and tried harder at the same time, and all of that just didn’t work out.

“It’s unfortunate that we lost a little bit from the first round to the second round (three positions), but we’re still in good shape. I still think we have a top-five car, and we proved that today in qualifying.”

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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Qualifying – Toyota – Save Mart 350

Sonoma Raceway

Sonoma, California

Saturday, June 25, 2016

1. (19)  Carl Edwards, Toyota, 95.777 mph.
2. (47)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 95.676 mph.
3. (78)  Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 95.672 mph.
4. (41)  Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 95.654 mph.
5. (42)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 95.362 mph.
6. (11)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 95.308 mph.
7. (22)  Joey Logano, Ford, 95.276 mph.
8. (18)  Kyle Busch, Toyota, 95.233 mph.
9. (27)  Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 95.134 mph.
10. (14)  Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 95.041 mph.
11. (10)  Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 95.035 mph.
12. (2)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 94.967 mph.
13. (88)  Dale Earnhardt Jr, Chevrolet, 95.329 mph.
14. (13)  Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 95.217 mph.
15. (48)  Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 95.027 mph.
16. (24)  Chase Elliott #, Chevrolet, 94.954 mph.
17. (31)  Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 94.906 mph.
18. (15)  Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 94.897 mph.
19. (5)  Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 94.886 mph.
20. (95)  Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 94.817 mph.
21. (1)  Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 94.712 mph.
22. (44)  Brian Scott #, Ford, 94.704 mph.
23. (20)  Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 94.521 mph.
24. (3)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 94.501 mph.
25. (4)  Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 94.445 mph.
26. (21)  Ryan Blaney #, Ford, 94.436 mph.
27. (17)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ford, 94.422 mph.
28. (6)  Trevor Bayne, Ford, 94.401 mph.
29. (43)  Aric Almirola, Ford, 94.360 mph.
30. (23)  David Ragan, Toyota, 94.356 mph.
31. (7)  Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 94.271 mph.
32. (16)  Greg Biffle, Ford, 94.207 mph.
33. (83)  Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 94.154 mph.
34. (32)  Patrick Carpentier, Ford, 93.858 mph.
35. (98)  Cole Whitt, Toyota, 93.668 mph.
36. (34)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 93.657 mph.
37. (38)  Landon Cassill, Ford, 93.257 mph.
38. (93)  Dylan Lupton(i), Toyota, 93.082 mph.
39. (30)  Josh Wise, Chevrolet, 93.027 mph.
40. (46)  Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 91.997 mph.

 

1 drivers failed to qualify.

 

41. (55)  Cody Ware(i), Chevrolet, 91.676 mph.

 

 

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