Busch steals Edwards’ thunder

LAS VEGAS -- Carl Edwards appeared primed to win the pole position for Sunday’s NASCAR race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, extending his momentum from winning last weekend’s race in California.

But only five minutes after Edwards turned the fastest lap in qualifying Friday for the UAW-Dodge 400, Las Vegas native Kyle Busch grabbed the top starting spot away for his No. 18 Toyota Camry.

Busch, 22, drove a lap of 182.352 mph around the 1.5-mile, high-banked oval, besting the 181.586-mph lap turned in by Edwards of Roush Fenway Racing.

Busch is arguably the sport’s hottest driver despite not winning either of the first two races on the Sprint Cup Series schedule, at Daytona International Speedway and at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.

Busch finished fourth in each race for Joe Gibbs Racing, putting him atop the Cup points standings. And he’s leading the points in NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series.

“It’s just been crazy the way things have been going,” Busch said. “Sooner or later you wonder when the fall is going to happen. But as I said this morning, I’m a pretty good surfer so I’m going to ride this wave as long as I have it.”

Edwards, who will start his No. 99 Ford next to Busch on the outside of the front row, said, “We knew that Kyle was going to be really fast” and that while Edwards’ spot atop the speed charts didn’t last long, “any time you can be on top of the board is good.”

Veteran Mark Martin, who won the track’s inaugural race a decade ago, qualified third in a Chevrolet prepared by Dale Earnhardt Inc. on a warm, postcard-perfect day at the track a few miles north of the Las Vegas Strip.

Another former Las Vegas winner, Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports, starts fourth in his No. 24 Chevy.

And Sunday’s race will have 10 Toyotas in the 43-car field, the most since Toyota entered the Cup series in 2007.

Martin marveled at Busch’s start this year. “Right now he is the wheelman of the series,” Martin said. “You watch Kyle Busch drive and not only is he going fast, he’s taking your breath, too.”

But Busch will have to fight a bit of history Sunday. No driver has won the race from the pole since the speedway began staging Cup races in 1998.

The speeds were slower than last year because the teams are using NASCAR’s new Car of Tomorrow for the first time here.

A year ago, Kasey Kahne won the pole -- and set a track qualifying record -- with a lap of 184.856 mph in an old version of his No. 9 Dodge. Kahne qualified 37th Friday for Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

But the COT is a boxier car NASCAR designed to bolster driver safety and reduce teams’ operating costs, because it can be used at multiple tracks.

O. Bruton Smith, whose company owns the Las Vegas track and several others, said he’s willing to swap the late-October Cup race at his Atlanta Motor Speedway with the Labor Day race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.

Both the Fontana and Atlanta tracks have struggled in recent years to fill seats with their existing race dates. Attendance was hurt at last year’s Labor Day race in Fontana, for instance, when temperatures hit 110 degrees.

The decision would be NASCAR’s, and Smith, chief executive of Speedway Motorsports Inc., said he told NASCAR officials that each would benefit from having the other’s date. Auto Club Speedway is owned by a separate company, International Speedway Corp.

NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston declined to comment on possible schedule changes next year.

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james.peltz@latimes.com

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UAW-DODGE 400

* When: Sunday, 12:30 p.m.

* Where: Las Vegas

Motor Speedway

* TV: Channel 11