Carl Edwards has quietly allowed the brouhaha with fellow Roush driver Matt Kenseth to slowly disappear in the media in good fashion.Quietly enough, in fact, that he won the pole at Phoenix and no really seemed to care -- nor bring the topic up. After all, there are two races left in the "Hendrick Motorsports Trophy Deciding Circus" and three former winners of the Indianapolis 500 are in the show.
But yes, Edwards did in fact win the pole with a lap of 132.773mph. It's his first of the season and guarantees the No. 99 Ford a spot in the 2008 Budweiser Shootout at Daytona. Edwards bested Martin Truex Jr. for the top spot by just three one-thousandths of a second.
"I told them after that lap, I said, 'That was a blast.' The guys did a great job with the car -- everybody," said Edwards.The pole for Edwards was his first since he started on the point in the 2005 Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
As for "The Jeff and Jimmie Show", Jeff Gordon will start right behind Edwards in third while Johnson will roll off the grid from the sixth position.
The list of past Indianapolis 500 winners is indeed well-represented in the Nextel Cup grid. Juan Pablo Montoya starts 14th, Sam Hornish Jr. made his first Nextel Cup race and starts 26th and fellow '500' winner Jacques Villeneuve lines up 27th.
The going home list includes all three Michael Waltrip Racing cars, A.J. Allmendinger, John Andretti and Ward Burton.
