Track:  Homestead-Miami Speedway, 1.5-mile oval, Homestead, Florida
Pole Winner: Carl Edwards

Pole Time: 30.775 seconds

Pole Speed:  175.467 miles per hour
TV/Radio: SPEED/MRN/SIRIUSXM

No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford Qualifying Position: 38th

No. 38 Long John Silver's Ford Qualifying Position: 43rd
No. 55 Front Row Motorsports Ford Qualifying Position: 30th

A champion will be crowned this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series runs its last race of the 2011 season.  But Cup Series activity was actually delayed, with Florida rains washing out both practice sessions scheduled for Friday at the 1.5-mile oval.  NASCAR scheduled two make-up sessions on Saturday, squeezed in before the mid-afternoon qualifying runs. 

Dry and sunny weather allowed the cars to get plenty of laps on track Saturday, with both David Gilliland's No. 34 team and Travis Kvapil's No. 38 team focusing mostly on race set-ups.  J.J. Yeley's No. 55 team had to qualify on speed and made sure they had the lap times to do so in their practice runs.  And they succeeded, with Yeley qualifying 30th with speed to spare.  Gilliland qualified 38th and Kvapil was 43rd fastest.

Points leader Carl Edwards made a statement of his intentions for the weekend by grabbing the pole.  Tony Stewart, the only other driver mathematically eligible for the championship, qualified 15th.  Scott Speed, Reed Sorenson, Mike Skinner, Scott Riggs and Grant Enfinger did not make the starting line-up.

Either Edwards or Stewart will hoist the Sprint Cup at the end of 400 miles Sunday.  Watch every lap on ESPN, beginning at 3 p.m. ET.

David Gilliland

Comments from No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team driver David Gilliland after qualifying at Homestead:
 

Travis Kvapil

Comments from No. 38 Long John Silver's Ford team driver Travis Kvapil after qualifying at Homestead:
 

"It feels nice to be locked into these races because we didn't really put any emphasis on a qualifying effort today. We really just worked on our race trim stuff. That's a pretty good lap for us and we gained a lot of speed there, but it's not gonna shake out very good overall.  Still, I'm excited about Sunday."

J.J. Yeley

Comments from No. 55 Front Row Motorsports Ford team driver J.J. Yeley after qualifying at Homestead:
 

"I think it'll probably be pretty decent.  The most important thing, obviously, is we're in.  We were really pretty decent the first practice and lost the balance in the second practice, so I was a little worried about what I had on the lap there.  I think I probably gave it an 85 percent lap.  I know I probably could have gained another tenth-and-a-half, at the same time I probably could have wrecked the thing, too.  The good thing is we had a good run.  I know these guys have worked their tails off all year long for me on this 55 car.  It's been a lot of fun and I'm glad that we've had a good run here for the final race at Homestead."

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