Carl Edwards wins Bristol pole as JGR cars take 4 of top 5 spots

Your browser does not support iframes.

Joe Gibbs Racing continued its run as the fastest team in the Sprint Cup Series during qualifying at Bristol on Friday.

The team took four of the top five starting spots including the entire front row. Carl Edwards will start first while Matt Kenseth starts second. Team Penske’s Joey Logano is third while Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin round out the top five.

It’s the second-straight time JGR has had the majority of cars in the top five for qualifying at the Bristol spring race. The starting grid for last year’s race, won by Kenseth from the pole, had three JGR cars in the top five.

The team has been absolutely dominant in qualifying so far in 2016. Through the first eight races, its cars have made the final round of qualifying 26 of a possible 32 times including a top-three sweep at Phoenix. Damn.

There was a weird moment during the first round of qualifying as well, and no, it didn’t involve any of the JGR cars. Ty Dillon, subbing for Tony Stewart in the No. 14 this weekend, spun during his qualifying attempt. His car ended up sliding into the back of Landon Cassill’s as Cassill was slowing down to go back to pit road.

Here’s how the field will line up at Bristol:

1. Carl Edwards
2. Matt Kenseth
3. Joey Logano
4. Denny Hamlin
5. Kyle Busch
6. Jimmie Johnson
7. Kevin Harvick
8. Martin Truex Jr.
9. AJ Allmendinger
10. Trevor Bayne
11. Kasey Kahne
12. Brad Keselowski
13. Jamie McMurray
14. Paul Menard
15. Austin Dillon
16. Casey Mears
17. Ryan Newman
18. Ryan Blaney
19. Chase Elliott
20. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
21. Chris Buescher
22. Aric Almirola
23. Greg Biffle
24. David Ragan
25. Kyle Larson
26. Kurt Busch
27. Brian Scott
28. Landon Cassill
29. Regan Smith
30. Matt DiBenedetto
31. Michael McDowell
32. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
33. Danica Patrick
34. Ty Dillon
35. Josh Wise
36. Clint Bowyer
37. Jeffrey Earnhardt
38. Reed Sorenson
39. Cole Whitt
40. Michael Annett