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Carl Edwards takes Daytona 500 pole

Carl Edwards secured pole position for the Daytona 500 as Fords dominated qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup season-opener

Last year's championship runner-up will share the front row with his Roush Fenway team-mate Greg Biffle.

Only the top two starting positions were set by today's qualifying session, as the remainder of the starting order is decided by Thursday's Gatorade Duel heat races.

Edwards set a time of 46.216 seconds at an average speed of 194.738mph to beat Biffle to the top spot by 0.155s.

Fords filled four of the top five places, with only Hendrick Chevrolet driver Dale Earnhardt Jr interrupting the marque's sweep by going third quickest.

Petty Ford's Marcos Ambrose and Germain Ford's Casey Mears completed the top five, followed by Jeff Gordon in another Hendrick Chevy.

Last year's shock winner Trevor Bayne showed good form again by going ninth quickest for Wood Brothers, just ahead of reigning Cup champion Tony Stewart (Stewart-Haas Chevrolet). Kyle Busch, winner of last night's Budweiser Shootout, was only 28th in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Quickest Toyota driver was Michael Waltrip Racing's Martin Truex Jr in seventh.

Danica Patrick was 30th-quickest in her first Cup qualifying session.

Pos  Driver                Team/Car                     Time     Gap
 1.  Carl Edwards          Roush Fenway Ford            46.216s
 2.  Greg Biffle           Roush Fenway Ford            46.371s  + 0.155s
 3.  Dale Earnhardt Jr     Hendrick Chevrolet           46.385s  + 0.169s
 4.  Marcos Ambrose        Petty Ford                   46.392s  + 0.176s
 5.  Casey Mears           Germain Ford                 46.429s  + 0.213s
 6.  Jeff Gordon           Hendrick Chevrolet           46.439s  + 0.223s
 7.  Martin Truex Jr       Waltrip Toyota               46.472s  + 0.256s
 8.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr    Roush Fenway Ford            46.472s  + 0.256s
 9.  Trevor Bayne          Wood Brothers Ford           46.484s  + 0.268s
10.  Tony Stewart          Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       46.486s  + 0.270s
11.  Mark Martin           Waltrip Toyota               46.511s  + 0.295s
12.  Jimmie Johnson        Hendrick Chevrolet           46.524s  + 0.308s
13.  Aric Almirola         Petty Ford                   46.540s  + 0.324s
14.  Paul Menard           Childress Chevrolet          46.542s  + 0.326s
15.  David Ragan           Front Row Ford               46.572s  + 0.356s
16.  Matt Kenseth          Roush Fenway Ford            46.573s  + 0.357s
17.  Ryan Newman           Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       46.578s  + 0.362s
18.  AJ Allmendinger       Penske Dodge                 46.603s  + 0.387s
19.  Brad Keselowski       Penske Dodge                 46.634s  + 0.418s
20.  Kevin Harvick         Childress Chevrolet          46.653s  + 0.437s
21.  Joey Logano           Gibbs Toyota                 46.664s  + 0.448s
22.  Clint Bowyer          Waltrip Toyota               46.670s  + 0.454s
23.  Jeff Burton           Childress Chevrolet          46.686s  + 0.470s
24.  Juan Pablo Montoya    Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  46.729s  + 0.513s
25.  Kasey Kahne           Hendrick Chevrolet           46.733s  + 0.517s
26.  Tony Raines           Front Row Ford               46.745s  + 0.529s
27.  David Stremme         Inception Toyota             46.884s  + 0.668s
28.  Kyle Busch            Gibbs Toyota                 46.906s  + 0.690s
29.  Jamie McMurray        Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  46.914s  + 0.698s
30.  Danica Patrick        Baldwin Chevrolet            46.939s  + 0.723s
31.  Kenny Wallace         RAB Toyota                   46.981s  + 0.765s
32.  Terry Labonte         FAS Lane Ford                46.992s  + 0.776s
33.  Dave Blaney           Baldwin Chevrolet            46.996s  + 0.780s
34.  Kurt Busch            Phoenix Chevrolet            47.031s  + 0.815s
35.  Elliott Sadler        Childress Chevrolet          47.054s  + 0.838s
36.  Michael Waltrip       Waltrip Toyota               47.076s  + 0.860s
37.  Joe Nemechek          NEMCO Toyota                 47.081s  + 0.865s
38.  Denny Hamlin          Gibbs Toyota                 47.089s  + 0.873s
39.  Regan Smith           Furniture Row Chevrolet      47.105s  + 0.889s
40.  Michael McDowell      Parsons Ford                 47.123s  + 0.907s
41.  Landon Cassill        BK Toyota                    47.218s  + 1.002s
42.  David Gilliland       Front Row Ford               47.357s  + 1.141s
43.  Bobby Labonte         JTG Daugherty Toyota         47.363s  + 1.147s
44.  Bill Elliott          NEMCO Toyota                 47.381s  + 1.165s
45.  Mike Wallace          Max Q Ford                   47.405s  + 1.189s
46.  David Reutimann       BK Toyota                    47.560s  + 1.344s
47.  Robert Richardson Jr  R3 Toyota                    47.761s  + 1.545s
48.  Robby Gordon          Gordon Dodge                 47.814s  + 1.598s
49.  JJ Yeley              Robinson-Blakeney Toyota     47.884s  + 1.668s

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