AJ Allmendinger

Carl Edwards won his third Coors Light Pole Award of the season Friday at Phoenix International Raceway, and A.J. Allmendinger put his car on the front row despite the adversity facing Richard Petty Motorsports.

In contrast, the only three drivers with realistic chances to win the Chase -- Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick -- all had lackluster qualifying efforts in time trials for Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 and must come through the field to stake their claims to the series championship.

Edwards covered the one-mile distance in 26.395 seconds (136.389 mph), as he, Allmendinger (136.250 mph) and Kurt Busch (136.240 mph) all eclipsed Ryan Newman's track qualifying record of 135.854 mph (26.499 seconds), set on Nov. 5, 2004.

Hamlin, who leads second-place Johnson by 33 points with two races left in the Chase, will start 17th, with Johnson taking the green flag from the 21st position and Harvick from 29th. Harvick trails Hamlin by 59 points.

Lineup

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	SPEED	TIME	BEHIND
1	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Aflac	136.389	26.395	Leader
2	43	A.J. Allmendinger	Ford	Insignia HDTV / Best Buy	136.250	26.422	-0.027
3	2	Kurt Busch	Dodge	Miller Lite	136.240	26.424	-0.029
4	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	3M Scotch Brand	135.742	26.521	-0.126
5	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	McDonald's	135.665	26.536	-0.141
6	00	David Reutimann	Toyota	Tums	135.547	26.559	-0.164
7	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M's	135.527	26.563	-0.168
8	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	Furniture Row Companies	135.303	26.607	-0.212
9	9	Aric Almirola	Ford	Budweiser	135.227	26.622	-0.227
10	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	The Home Depot	135.206	26.626	-0.231
11	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	135.206	26.626	-0.231
12	6	David Ragan	Ford	UPS	135.176	26.632	-0.237
13	47	Marcos Ambrose	Toyota	Little Debbie / Safeway	135.150	26.637	-0.242
14	33	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	Cheerios / Hamburger Helper	135.089	26.649	-0.254
15	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	Valvoline	135.084	26.650	-0.255
16	77	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	Mobil 1	135.039	26.659	-0.264
17	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Ground	134.938	26.679	-0.284
18	98	Paul Menard	Ford	Peak / Menards	134.917	26.683	-0.288
19	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	U.S. Army Veterans Day Tribute	134.917	26.683	-0.288
20	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Old Spice / Office Depot	134.821	26.702	-0.307
21	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe's / Kobalt Tools	134.816	26.703	-0.308
22	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	DuPont	134.801	26.706	-0.311
23	19	Elliott Sadler	Ford	Paralyzed Veterans of America	134.801	26.706	-0.311
24	13	Casey Mears	Toyota	GEICO	134.766	26.713	-0.318
25	83	Kasey Kahne	Toyota	Red Bull	134.756	26.715	-0.320
26	09	Bobby Labonte	Chevrolet	C&J Energy	134.494	26.767	-0.372
27	82	Scott Speed	Toyota	Red Bull	134.429	26.780	-0.385
28	5	Mark Martin	Chevrolet	GoDaddy.com	134.393	26.787	-0.392
29	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Shell / Pennzoil	134.353	26.795	-0.400
30	12	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Penske Racing	134.273	26.811	-0.416
31	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	Diet Mountain Dew "Paint the 88" / National Guard	134.163	26.833	-0.438
32	36	Dave Blaney	Chevrolet	Tommy Baldwin Racing	134.013	26.863	-0.468
33	26	J.J. Yeley	Ford	Air National Guard	133.943	26.877	-0.482
34	7	Robby Gordon	Toyota	Polaris	133.650	26.936	-0.541
35	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	Target	133.625	26.941	-0.546
36	55	Mike Bliss	Toyota	Prism Motorsports	133.611	26.944	-0.549
37	37	David Gilliland	Ford	Taco Bell	133.492	26.968	-0.573
38	38	Travis Kvapil	Ford	Long John Silver's	133.383	26.990	-0.595
39	164	Landon Cassill	Toyota	Empire Steel Buildings	133.343	26.998	-0.603
40	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	133.318	27.003	-0.608
41	71	Brendan Gaughan+	Chevrolet	South Point Hotel & Casino	132.197	27.232	-0.837
42	34	Tony Raines+	Ford	A&W All American Food	130.938	27.494	-1.099
43	81	Terry Labonte	Dodge	Red Line Oil	Champion's Provisional	-	-
		Did Not Qualify
41	66	Jason Leffler	Toyota	Prism Motorsports	133.294	27.008	-0.613
42	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	HeatRedefined.com	133.225	27.022	-0.627
43	46	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	SuperPawn	133.107	27.046	-0.651

+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie