TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Carl Edwards promises he'll try not to make the same mistake twice.

In the last visit to Talladega Superspeedway last fall, Edwards stayed well behind the main pack of cars in an effort to stay out of trouble. But with less than 15 laps to go, Edwards wound up smack dab in the middle of a multi-car accident ignited when he bumped teammate Greg Biffle from behind, sending him out of control at the front of the pack.

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I don't know how I'm gonna run it. If we're running up front, I'll probably run real hard and try to stay up there. If you start falling back, it's just tough to sit there and run in the middle of 30 cars and think that that's safe to do.

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-- CARL EDWARDS

So what kind of strategy will Edwards implement in Sunday's Aaron's 499?

"I don't know how I'm gonna run it," he admitted. "If we're running up front, I'll probably run real hard and try to stay up there. If you start falling back, it's just tough to sit there and run in the middle of 30 cars and think that that's safe to do.

"It just kind of depends on what everybody does. You can't lose the pack, but if there are four or five guys back there running, you can go back there and kind of catch your breath a little bit and make a run for the front later."

If Friday's final practice is any indication, Edwards should have a pretty good seat up near the front on Sunday. He ran the fastest lap of the session -- 194.904 mph -- as most teams opted to work on qualification setups in the second of two practices. After Saturday's qualifying, the cars will be impounded until race day.

David Gilliland, one of the 10 cars needing to qualify on time to make the field, was second-quickest at 194.820. The rest of the top-five included Tony Stewart, rookie Joey Logano and Ryan Newman, who won the pole for Saturday's Nationwide Series race.

Speeds in the afternoon were almost 3 mph slower than the morning practice, mainly because cars were bunched in packs for most of the first session. Three drivers -- Robby Gordon, David Reutimann and Jeff Burton -- eclipsed 197 mph in the draft.

A.J. Allmendinger's blown engine caused a temporary delay in the first practice, leading Richard Petty Motorsports to replace the power plant in both he and teammate Kasey Kahne's cars.

Still, Edwards isn't particularly fond of restrictor-plate racing. In nine Talladega starts, he has three top-10s -- and none since 2006.

"In a way, I know it's exciting for the fans, but I personally don't think that this style of racing should be a part of the Sprint Cup Series," Edwards said. "It's just too bad we have to race like this. If it weren't for points it would be a little different, but you've really got to go out there and put yourself in a position where you're just at the mercy of everything and I hope that someday we can find a way to race at these tracks without being in that position."

Biffle, one of the victims of Edwards' poor decision in October, has to wonder what it takes to finish at Talladega, let alone record a top-10 finish. He's crashed out of four of the last five races at the biggest track on the circuit -- and the inevitable multi-car accident is never far from his mind.

"Certainly I'm looking forward to the checkered flag at Talladega because that's the big thing," Biffle said. "We always run well there and the thing is, obviously everybody talks about it, is missing that accident.

"Inevitably, one is gonna happen at some point throughout the race when those cars are that bunched up and that's what makes Talladega so exciting for the drivers and the fans -- that bunched-up racing -- but what we look forward to is being able to finish that race and get a good finish out of it and that's certainly what we're looking forward to. There's no doubt that we're gonna run decent at Talladega this weekend. The big picture is staying out of trouble and minding our P's and Q's at the end of the race."

For unknown reasons, that's been the biggest issue for Biffle, who has certainly been given lots of advice on the subject of accident avoidance at Talladega.

"Certainly we all have ideas how you avoid a wreck," Biffle said. "A lot of people say, 'Well, if you can stay at the front, that's your best opportunity to stay out of a wreck.' I was running third in a Nationwide race and Scott Riggs flew upside down across the hood of my car when I was running third, so I guess that didn't really work out. That wasn't the safest place to be, and yet I've been caught up in accidents at the back, so it is difficult.

"Some people feel the top is a safer spot than the bottom. I really don't feel like there is a better spot to be. Certainly, not being in the middle probably is a safer spot -- either the bottom or the top gives you an opportunity where at least you don't have another car there. On the bottom, there's nobody below you. It doesn't mean you can drive down there, but at least you're not gonna get hit from that side. I don't think there's any safe spot to avoid a wreck, but those are some things you can do -- not be in the middle, probably, and just really paying attention to what's going on around you and being prepared."