Edwards' luck of draw earns pole for Shootout

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Carl Edwards is on the pole for the Budweiser Shootout on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway. The starting lineup for the 24-car field was determined by a draw Thursday night.

The 75-lap exhibition will be broken into segments of 25 and 50 laps.

"From what I've seen so far, there might not be many cars left after the first 25," said Edwards, referring to crashes in practice Thursday. "This race is going to be very interesting. It's going to spread out a little bit. It's going to become a handling race. It doesn't matter where you start unless if somebody misses a gear, we'll be in front of it."

Defending race champion Kevin Harvick was not at the draw party as he was battling flu-like symptoms. He drew the second spot but likely will have to drop to the rear of the field because he did not practice the car.

NASCAR also is expected to send Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin and Mark Martin to the back of the field because they never practiced their backup cars after crashes. Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray practiced their backup cars and will get to start where they drew. Derrike Cope also is expected to drop to the rear because he never got through technical inspection in time to practice.

"None of us have been in a race car very much lately, and we all kind of jump in there and it's a little bit slippery," Edwards said. "If we can make it through the first 10 laps of a run all weekend on tires, it's going to string out, it's going to be a really good race, it's going to be little packs of cars that have to handle."

The last time Edwards had been on a pole for a Cup Series event was at Bristol in August 2008.

"It's the first race of the season, and it will be nice to be up front," Edwards said. "It's been a while since I've been on a pole. I know I didn't earn this one, it's all luck, but it still feels good."

Related:
• Hurting Hamlin in middle of Shootout practice crash