On the tracks Friday’s auto racing results


SPRINT CUP

Carl Edwards records top-qualifying lap

FORTH WORTH, TEXAS

Carl Edwards became the seventh different pole winner in the seven NASCAR Sprint Cup races this season, posting the fast lap of 194.609 mph in the final round of qualifying for tonight’s Duck Commander 500 at the Texas track where he has won three times. “My confidence level was pretty decent, but now it’s really good,” Edwards said after Friday’s qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway. “It’s up there. To have that fast of a race car is huge, but I like this place.” Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. both had qualifying laps of 193.306 mph. Logano will start on the front row beside Edwards, with Truex third. Rookie Chase Elliott and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fill out the top five spots. Jimmie Johnson, who has won the last three races at the 11/2-mile, high-banked track, qualified 11th. It is Edwards’ 17th career pole, and his second in 23 starts at Texas. Edwards won both races at Texas in 2008 after winning the 2005 fall race, but none of those wins was from the pole. Only Johnson has won more Cup races at Texas. Edwards has finished seventh or better in five of the six races so far this season in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. He is fourth in points. “I don’t know what the other guys feel, the tire and downforce package for me lets me feel like I can go into the corner and move around and feel the tire underneath me,” Edwards said. “Even in qualifying, there were times when I got a little sideways and it slid a little bit and I could recover and that’s really fun as a race car driver.”

XFINITY

Kyle Busch earns fourth victory

FORT WORTH, TEXAS

Kyle Busch led 150 of 200 laps at Texas on Friday night to win for the fourth time in five NASCAR Xfinity starts this season. Busch was the polesitter and led four times, including the last 81 laps, for his Xfinity-record 80th victory. It was his eighth win at the high-banked, 11/2-mile track in the Lone Star State. Just like the Joe Gibbs Racing teammates started the race, Busch and Erik Jones were 1-2 in their Toyotas at the checkered flag. Jones finished 3.055 seconds back, with Brad Keselowski third and Chase Elliott fourth. Busch was coming off a sweep of the Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series races at Martinsville last weekend. That gives him a win in each of NASCAR’s three top series over a seven-day period, and he has now won 25 percent of his 316 starts in the Xfinity Series. Daniel Suarez, another JGR driver, held onto the series points lead despite finishing 16th. His 10-point lead over Elliott Sadler, who finished seventh, was trimmed to one point as the series returned to the track after a two-week break. Busch has led 75 percent of the laps run (776 of 1,033) in the Xfinity Series this season, and that is even without him running the 120-lap opener at Daytona. He has led at least 119 laps in all five of his starts this season. When he finished as the runner-up at California in the last race, he led 133 of 150 laps. He was about 2 miles from another win before a flat tire and still finished second to Austin Dillon. Jones was leading when he came to pit road on lap 80 Friday night during a caution brought out after Suarez spun in Turn 4. Busch led Jones off pit road, but Jones was dropped from second to 18th before the restart after a penalty for one of his crew members coming over the wall too quickly.

Associated Press

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