Carl Edwards captured the pole position for the Nationwide finale at Homestead saturday, but it was not without drama.   Although Edwards was scheduled to be the first out to qualify, he was “car-less” on the grid as his team struggled to get the car through technical inspection.

Edwards, who was put on the five-minute clock, had to jump into the car as it rolled out to qualify with just a minute or two to spare.  But as Edwards said, his qualifying lap was “worth it” as he took the pole with a time of 32.073 seconds and a speed of 168.366.

“I was a little nervous,” Edwards said, “But it was worth the wait.  That was a pretty good lap.”

The No. 60 car was apparently delayed in the technical inspection process because of damage to the car sustained during yesterday’s practice session.  Edwards damaged the back end, ironically punching in the “Don’t Panic, Ask Ortho” sponsor panel on the rear of the car.

“I hit the right rear just hard enough to give myself a little body damage,” Edwards said.  “But this car was real fast.”

While Edward’s qualifying lap was eventful, Erik Darnell’s and Michael Annett’s laps were even more dramatic.  Both lost control of their cars, Darnell sustaining damage to the rear end of the car and Annett flat-spotting his tires.  Both drivers will have to start the Ford 300 from the back of the field.

Ryan Newman, driving the no. 33, will start in the second position.  He qualified just 0.08 seconds behind pole sitter Edwards.

Jeff Burton qualified in the third position, taking his turn at driving the no. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet, and Joey Logano followed closely behind, snagging the fourth starting spot in his no. 20 Game Stop Toyota.

“We might not have been the fastest car out there,” Logano said.  “But we had it balanced pretty close.  I’m excited and hopefully we can bring one more ‘W’ before the end of the season.”

Kyle Busch, who only has to take the track to claim the Nationwide championship for 2009, qualified in the fifth position.  Busch’s crew chief Jason Ratcliff will also be claiming his first Nationwide championship as the no. 18 takes the green flag later this afternoon.

“Even if I start the engine on pit road and it blows up right there, we still get 43^rd place points,” Busch said.  “So I guess you can congratulate me on the championship.”

“But we don’t want to just come in and run this race; we want to win this race.  That’s what we’re looking to do tonight.”

Two of the more interesting qualifying positions are the drivers in the sixth and eighth positions, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski respectively.  The two drivers had words on and off the track after the last Nationwide race at Phoenix, with Hamlin vowing payback for their confrontation.

Matt Kenseth qualified seventh, with Scott Speed and Brendan Gaughan rounding out the top ten, in ninth and tenth respectively.

The Nationwide qualifying session sported the biggest field of the season, with 52 cars attempting to make the race and 22 go or go homers.  Nine cars were eliminated from the field, including Brian Keselowski, Jennifer Jo Cobb , Benny Gordon, and Morgan Shepherd  to name a few.

Parker Kligerman, who had started on the pole in his last Nationwide start, had high hopes to get into the race.  Unfortunately, the driver of the Penske Dodge hit the wall twice and had to pack the car onto the trailer.