FORT WORTH, Texas • Carl Edwards isn't going to have to look far to find out where Tony Stewart is at the start of the race Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.
Edwards, whose NASCAR Sprint Cup lead is a mere eight points with three events left, will be starting directly behind his closest chaser.
"Five hundred miles, we'll see what happens," Edwards said after qualifying seventh Friday, when his teammates at Roush Fenway Racing claimed the top three spots. "You couldn't pick a better place to just race it out. This is gonna be a good one. I love this place."
Stewart will start fifth, in the row ahead of Edwards.
This race is being billed as a "Texas Title Fight" after Stewssaid in Victory Lane at Martinsville last weekend that Edwards "better be worried." While some people thought Stewart might have been caught up in his emotions after his third victory in seven Chase races, he reiterated that sentiment Friday in a very calm, straightforward manner.
"I just stated a fact that we're ready for this," said Stewart, who won the season title in 2002 and 2005. "We're ready for these three weeks. After a race like we had last Sunday, I'm ready to go for these weeks. If anybody counts us out, they're making a mistake."
Stewart won the fall race at Texas five years ago, and has 10 top-10 finishes in his 19 starts in the Lone Star state. But no one has won more Cup races at Texas than Edwards, who has three wins at the 1½-mile, high-banked track. He was third there in April and isn't bothered by Stewart's talk.
"No, it's in good fun," Edwards said. "We get along real well and, for me, this week I've thought a little bit about who my real competition is and, no offense to Tony or anything, but ... the guys that are behind him are truly the guys who have the biggest chance of doing well over the next three weeks.
"It would be foolish of me to just focus on him and not pay attention to these other guys who have been very, very fast."
Greg Biffle took the pole with a lap of 193.736 mph. Biffle just beat out David Ragan (193.729). Matt Kenseth, who is fifth in points, will start his Ford on the second row with Paul Menard's Chevrolet.
Stewart had a lap of 193.257 mph, and Edwards was 193.071 after he scraped the wall when coming to the start-finish line.
"We wanted to be a little better than that, but I came to the green and I was a little loose," Edwards said. "I thought, 'I better be a little careful my next time through here,' and I was probably a little too timid down there. ... But it is a good starting spot."
David Reutimman, who found out this week he was being replaced at Michael Waltrip Racing, qualified sixth between Stewart and Edwards. Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne and Regan Smith rounded out the top 10, just ahead of Johnson. Kevin Harvick, who is third in points, qualified 21st and fourth-place Brad Keselowski will start eighth Sunday.
"I don't see Tony or Carl having any bad tracks moving forward," said Johnson, the five-time defending champion who is sixth in points, 43 points behind of Edwards. "If something does happen with either one of them, it opens the door for a bunch of other guys."
