Carl Edwards wins pole for Watkins Glen

Carl Edwards has four poles in 2016 (Getty).

Carl Edwards is the road course qualifying ace of 2016.

Edwards got the pole for Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen. Edwards beat out Kyle Larson, Tony Stewart and teammates Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch for the top spot. And it makes it a clean sweep of road course pole positions for Edwards as he won the pole in June at Sonoma.

Edwards, who won at Sonoma in 2014, has never won at Watkins Glen.

Sunday’s race should be different than ones previously held at Watkins Glen. The track has been repaved since the 2015 race and the combination of the new pavement and harder tire on the cars creates a different aspect. Teams were finding out the tire could get faster with more laps in practice and qualifying, meaning tires will definitely not be at a premium during the race.

Look for most every team to work the race backwards and pit as early as possible for their final pit stops of the race. Pitting for fresh tires will not outweigh track position.

Edwards now has four poles in 2016. He won back-to-back poles at Texas and Bristol this spring.

Here’s how the rest of the field will line up:

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