Edwards, Wood share front row at Martinsville

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) -- Carl Edwards won the pole at Martinsville Speedway on Friday, the first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series rookie to top qualifying in three years.

Advance Auto Parts 200  Lineup  Happy Hour Speeds  1st Practice Speeds

Edwards turned a fast lap of 91.549 mph on the 0.526-mile oval ahead of Saturday's Advance Auto Parts 200. The last rookie to win a pole in the truck series was current Winston Cup star Kurt Busch, who did it at California Speedway on Oct. 28, 2000.

"That means a lot to me," said Edwards, eighth in the season standings. "We'd been close, and I kept messing up in qualifying. I had kind of given up on qualifying about halfway through the year because I just could never get it down."

Now he's doing just fine. He will have a top-five start for the fourth time in five races.

Craftsman Truck Series  Tools of the Trade

Edwards gave a lot of credit to the arrival of new crew chief Kevin "Cowboy" Starland.

Jon Wood, Edward's Roush Racing teammate, made it a sweep of the front row with a lap at 91.056 mph.

Dennis Setzer was third at 91.052. He's attempting to become the first truck driver to win three straight races at Martinsville and the first in the series to win three in a row on a short track.

Series leader Brendan Gaughan, coming of a victory last week at Texas, was fourth. Second-place Travis Kvapil, 30 points back with three races remaining, was 11th Friday.

Matt Carter, son of Winston Cup team owner and crew chief Travis Carter, will start 14th in his series debut. He qualified just behind three-time Winston Cup champion and TV analyst Darrell Waltrip, an occasional starter in the truck series.