Logano posted a lap at 124.630 mph in his Toyota to earn the first starting spot for Sunday's race. His previous best qualifying effort was fifth at Darlington last year.
"I have always been fast here," he said. "I've always been fast and I've always been caught up in a wreck or knocked the fender and blew a tire, stubbed in the nose, blew a motor-I've about done it all here besides have an uneventful race." Kurt Busch, winner of the last race two weeks ago at Atlanta, qualified second with a lap at 123.857 in his Dodge. He's off to a fast start to the season with new crew chief Steve Addington, who led Busch's brother, Kyle, to a pair of wins at Bristol last year.
Kurt Busch is a five-time winner at Bristol, but hasn't been to Victory Lane here since 2006. "We're surprised by the lap that we ran, and to be second overall was Steve throwing a couple of things at the car last minute that he was comfortable with," Busch said. "Overall, we exceeded our expectations. I didn't think that we'd be sitting on the front row after our qualifying run but, hey, here we are."
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) -- Carl Edwards vigorously defended himself Friday against criticism of his character, dismissing accusations that he's a phony who suffers from anger management issues.
"That's all they can say about me because it's hard for them to accept that I am a decent guy," Edwards said moments before climbing into his car at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he was back at the track for the first time since he intentionally wrecked Brad Keselowski two weeks ago at Atlanta.
The accident with Keselowski has opened Edwards to criticism inside the NASCAR garage. Publicly, Kevin Harvick called Edwards "fake as hell" this week in a radio interview, while others have privately wondered if the veteran driver has problems controlling his anger.
Harvick feuded with Edwards two seasons ago and didn't back off his assessment of Edwards on Friday.
"As far as the fake comment," he began, "you can't be the nice guy, you can't be the bad guy, and you can't be the bully. So, I mean, that's just how I feel about that."
David Brabham is one of the most accomplished racers of his generation, with a Formula One ride in the early 1990s followed by victories at LeMans and Sebring and an American Le Mans Series championship last year. Well traveled and worldly wise, Brabham was born in England, raised in Australia and has competed everywhere in between.
Brabham, 44, is a big picture kind-of-guy who is as passionate in raising money to fight malaria as he is dedicated to his successful racing career. He could be driving a Ferrari around town, but chooses the more efficient Volkswagen Golf.
On his driver's suit, where most drivers wear a flag representing their home country, Brabham instead has a patch of the planet Earth.
"We are human beings, we don't belong to a country, we all live on the planet Earth. ... it just works for me to think that way,'' he explained.
Every time 26-year-old Morgan Lucas climbs into his 8,000-horsepower, nitro-fueled, super-charged Geico/Toyota Top Fuel dragster to ready himself for a 325-mph run down the narrow 1,000-foot drag strip, his nerves are on end, his adrenaline is flowing and his heart is pounding.
But it's nothing compared to what the National Hot Rod Association's (NHRA) youngest Top Fuel driver experiences standing at the start line watching his nearly 60-year-old mother, Charlotte Lucas, race down the same track at 170 mph in the Super Comp class, driving a miniature version of Lucas' dragster.
"She always gets so nervous watching me, and now I know how she feels,'' Morgan Lucas said. "I get that same nervousness watching her race.
"She wanted to see the passion and learn why I was always so excited to get in the car. And now she gets it.''
Drivers were consistently topping 200 mph Tuesday during NASCAR's first major test of the new spoiler at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. Twice during the afternoon drafting session, NASCAR called the cars back into the garage to switch to a smaller restrictor plate and slow the cars down.
Four-time champ Jeff Gordon -- second fastest in the morning session behind his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson -- was encouraged by the performance of his No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet and the driveability of the cars.
Good news. But Gordon also shared what he considers even better news.
He and his pregnant wife Ingrid found out during last week's bye-week that they will be having a baby boy this August to join 2-year old big sis, Ella.
"I can tell you last week I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about this test. ... Luckily I had a team that was thinking about it before then,'' Gordon conceded with a laugh during a lunch break at Talladega.
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) -- 
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) -- 
David Brabham
Every time 26-year-old Morgan Lucas climbs into his 8,000-horsepower, nitro-fueled, super-charged Geico/Toyota Top Fuel dragster to ready himself for a 325-mph run down the narrow 1,000-foot drag strip, his nerves are on end, his adrenaline is flowing and his heart is pounding.
Drivers were consistently topping 200 mph Tuesday during NASCAR's first major test of the new spoiler at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. Twice during the afternoon drafting session, 
