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Carl Edwards had a virtual passenger, the late Dick Trickle, with him as he won the pole for the Sprint All-Star non-points race in Charlotte on Friday night.
The exhibition race, which has a non-traditional format, could pay a whopping two million dollar purse from sponsor Sprint, and track owner, Bruton Smith.
Edwards, who hails from Missouri, not Trickle's home state of Wisconsin, was nonetheless a fan of driver who came from the short tracks in the US's Midwest.
So the name, "Dick Trickle" appeared above the driver's door instead of the actual pole winner.
"I didn't know if I deserved to have that name above my door," said Edwards, who added he once thought Trickle was "the toughest human being alive."
Edwards mastered the unique qualifying procedures, which required drivers to make a four-tire pit stop in the midst of their three time trial laps- and there were no limits on pit road as in typical NASCAR races.
His time was 1 minute, 51.297 seconds to complete the run.
That rules exception mad qualifying "petrifying", according to Edwards.
"First of all, I don't know if you guys noticed in practice, but it was insane," he said. "I mean, it felt like a war out there or something. It was crazy. Everybody was trying to practice and there was really no oversight or management of all of us, so that was pretty crazy."
The resurgent Kurt Busch, who won the All-Star race in 2010 and the Darlington pole last week, was second fastest at 1min52.447s. "To unload today and to have a good practice session and then to execute coming on top pit road at 157 mph, it's pretty wild," Busch said.
"It's like a step back in time when you get a chance to throw caution to the wind and let it rip coming on pit road. It was fun.”
Greg Biffle, Edwards' teammate was third, followed by Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, respectively. Nineteen drivers qualified in this way.
The Sprint Showdown, a race for non winners, will supply two extra drivers based on their one-two finish in a race run just prior to the All-Star event on Saturday evening.
Martin Truex, Jr. won the pole in conventional qualifying at 193.424 mph around the 1.5 mile Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The final starter will come from a fan vote. Pundits tab Danica Patrick as the favourite to win the fan vote.
The exhibition race, which has a non-traditional format, could pay a whopping two million dollar purse from sponsor Sprint, and track owner, Bruton Smith.
Edwards, who hails from Missouri, not Trickle's home state of Wisconsin, was nonetheless a fan of driver who came from the short tracks in the US's Midwest.
So the name, "Dick Trickle" appeared above the driver's door instead of the actual pole winner.
"I didn't know if I deserved to have that name above my door," said Edwards, who added he once thought Trickle was "the toughest human being alive."
Edwards mastered the unique qualifying procedures, which required drivers to make a four-tire pit stop in the midst of their three time trial laps- and there were no limits on pit road as in typical NASCAR races.
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| Carl Edwards (Photo: Brian Czobat/autostock USA) |
His time was 1 minute, 51.297 seconds to complete the run.
That rules exception mad qualifying "petrifying", according to Edwards.
"First of all, I don't know if you guys noticed in practice, but it was insane," he said. "I mean, it felt like a war out there or something. It was crazy. Everybody was trying to practice and there was really no oversight or management of all of us, so that was pretty crazy."
The resurgent Kurt Busch, who won the All-Star race in 2010 and the Darlington pole last week, was second fastest at 1min52.447s. "To unload today and to have a good practice session and then to execute coming on top pit road at 157 mph, it's pretty wild," Busch said.
"It's like a step back in time when you get a chance to throw caution to the wind and let it rip coming on pit road. It was fun.”
Greg Biffle, Edwards' teammate was third, followed by Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, respectively. Nineteen drivers qualified in this way.
The Sprint Showdown, a race for non winners, will supply two extra drivers based on their one-two finish in a race run just prior to the All-Star event on Saturday evening.
Martin Truex, Jr. won the pole in conventional qualifying at 193.424 mph around the 1.5 mile Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The final starter will come from a fan vote. Pundits tab Danica Patrick as the favourite to win the fan vote.