Johnson will start in 30th spot on Sunday

Second place Carl Edwards will have a big jump starting in the fourth spot.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Carl Edwards got the jump on Jimmie Johnson in Friday’s qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Edwards, facing a daunting 141-point deficit heading into Sunday’s Ford 400, qualified fourth, trailing only first-time pole winner David Reutimann, rookie Scott Speed and Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth. Johnson, who needs only to finish 36th or better on Sunday to wrap up his third straight Cup title, will start a disappointing 30th.

It’s only the seventh time in 36 races this season that Johnson has started 20th or lower. The good news for Johnson is his worst finish in any of those races was 33rd in the August race at Bristol.

Edwards, who knows his chances of winning the title mainly hinge on Johnson having a parts failure or crashing, shrugged off the qualifying spread.

“We just race as hard as we can,” Edwards said. “No matter what happens to Jimmie, we have to run very well to have a chance to win this championship.”

The qualifying discrepancy does give Edwards one other edge, since pit selection is based on qualifying.

“Pit selection will be big — not as big as other places, though, because you can pass so easily here,” Edwards said. “But I’ll take whatever I can get. This will make it a little easier to sleep tonight and have a little confidence going into the race.”

Before qualifying, Johnson was asked what he needs to do this weekend.

“We’ve got to finish 400 miles,” Johnson said. “I’m looking forward to it. I’m ready to get on track.

“It’s been a busy week and [I’m] just really eager to get in the car and get into what I do and what this team’s about and what we like to do, which is drive that car and make it fast.”

Even after his disappointing lap in qualifying, Johnson didn’t appear too concerned.

“Oh well, we’ll roll with it,” Johnson said. “I had some trouble coming to the green [flag] and lost some time, so it’s probably not the qualifying effort that we wanted.

“But we had a great practice and have a great car and we’ll be just fine. We’ll just kind of run from there and see what we get.”