Edwards wins pole at Phoenix Raceway

Carl Edwards won the pole position for Sunday’s NASCAR Nextel Cup race while Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, who are locked in a close battle for the championship, also qualified in the top 10 Friday at Phoenix International Raceway.

Meanwhile, the migration of open-wheel racers to NASCAR stock-car racing was fully evident as three former winners of the Indianapolis 500 -- Sam Hornish Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya and Jacques Villeneuve -- also qualified for the race. Patrick Carpentier, another open-wheel driver, also made the field.

It was the first time in history that three former Indy 500 winners qualified for a top-level NASCAR race.

On Jan. 2, 1969, a Cup race at now-defunct Riverside International Raceway included two Indy 500 winners, A.J. Foyt and Parnelli Jones, plus two drivers who would win the Indy 500 within the next two years, Mario Andretti and Al Unser.

Edwards ran the fastest lap, 132.773 mph, around the one-mile Phoenix International oval Friday in a Ford prepared by Roush Fenway Racing. It was Edwards’ first pole of the year and his first at Phoenix International.

“The guys did a great job with the car,” Edwards said, adding that “since we unloaded the thing it’s been fast.”

Martin Truex Jr. qualified second, at 132.758 mph, in a Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet.

Gordon, who won the spring race here, was third in another Chevy. Johnson, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate and the reigning champion, qualified sixth in his No. 48 Chevrolet.

Johnson has a modest 30-point lead over Gordon with only two races remaining: Sunday’s Checker Auto Parts 500 and the season finale Nov. 18 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida. Clint Bowyer, who qualified 20th for Richard Childress Racing, is third in the Chase and 181 points back.

“We’ve got to try to win these last two races and hope for a mistake” by Johnson and Gordon, Bowyer said.

The other nine drivers in NASCAR’s 10-race Chase for the Cup playoff -- including Edwards and Truex -- are too far behind to win the title.

Johnson said he was pleased with his qualifying run at Phoenix International, a quirky, relatively flat track that’s shaped like a bean with a slight bend in the back straightaway. “I feel like I left some [speed] out there,” he said. “I know we’ll be good in race trim.”

Both drivers would like to at least lead one of the 312 scheduled laps, because NASCAR awards five bonus points to each driver who leads a lap. Drivers can earn an additional five points if they lead the most laps.

Jeff Burton, a Chase contender who qualified 12th, was asked whether the title fight between Johnson and Gordon -- who are friends as well as teammates -- made the Chase less exciting. “Would it be more compelling if they didn’t like each other? Yeah, it would be,” Burton said. “The reality is those two teams have been better than the rest of us.”

Hornish, who also is a three-time IndyCar Series champion, qualified 26th, making his first Cup race in seven attempts. The 2006 Indianapolis 500 winner is expected to announce tonight that he’ll move to the Cup series full time next season, driving a Dodge for owner Roger Penske.

Another Penske driver, Kurt Busch, said he was “looking forward to helping Sam get up to speed. “This stock car thing,” he added, “is much tougher than it looks.”

Hall of Fame Racing said it would switch to Toyota from Chevrolet next year, when J.J. Yeley will take over driving duties from Tony Raines. The team also said it would continue leasing engines from Joe Gibbs Racing, which itself is moving to Toyota from Chevrolet in 2008.

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james.peltz@latimes.com

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NEXTEL CUP FACTS

* Race: Checker Auto Parts 500.

* When: Sunday, noon, Ch. 7.

* Where: Phoenix Int. Raceway.