Catchfence

In extremely cool temperatures in Lebanon, Tennessee the stars and cars of the NASCAR Nationwide Series took to the track for qualifying setting the field for this afternoon’s Nashville 300 at Nashville Superspeedway, the sixth round on the 2009 schedule.

“Concrete” Carl Edwards backed up his practice speeds from Friday evening and grabbed the pole for the Nationwide 300. Edwards in the No. 60 Save-a-Lot Ford Fusion tackled the 1.333-mile speedway with a time of 29.16 seconds at 164.596 miles per hour. Edwards is a three-time champion at Nashville Superspeedway winning three straight races starting in 2006 and capturing both races in 2007.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookie Joey Logano grabbed the outside pole in the No. 20 Gamestop TOYOTA Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. Logano has one prior start at Nashville Superspeedway last August after grabbing the pole, he went on to finish 31st.

Former ARCA RE/MAX Series standout Michael McDowell surged to an impressive third in the No. 47 Tom’s Snack TOYOTA Camry for JTG-Daugherty Racing. McDowell will make his first Nationwide start at Nashville this afternoon.

Texas winner Kyle Busch was fourth in the Z-Lines Design TOYOTA Camry.

Ricky Stenhouse, Jr in his first Nationwide outing for Roush-Fenway Racing carried the Citigroup colors to a fifth place starting position.

Steven Wallace, Mike Bliss, David Ragan, Justin Allgaier and Kelly Bires comprised the top-10. Allgaier will make his first Nationwide start at Nashville Superspeedway and nearly won the ARCA RE/MAX Series event here last August.

Bires, the Wisconsin native in a one-race deal with Kevin Harvick Inc. carrying the Charter Communications colors.

Notables in the top-20 included Terry Cook in Phil Parson’s Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS 11th, Germain Racing rookie Michael Annett in 13th in the No. 15 Pilot Travel Centers TOYOTA Camry.

Brendan Gaughan carrying new colors for U.S. Fidelis controlled the 14th fastest effort with local team, Baker-Curb Racing rounding out the top-15 with driver Jason Keller.

Stephen Leicht in his first stint with Richard Childress Racing bounced back from a loose qualifying effort to tap 16th. Local hero Burney Lamar was 17th in the Dollar General TOYOTA Camry.

John Wes Townley in the No. 09 Zaxby’s Ford Fusion for RAB Racing surged to a great qualifying effort after mounting the 18th fastest lap. Townley, a rookie will make his Nationwide debut at Nashville on the heels of prior races in the ARCA RE/MAX Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series here.

Brad Keselowski and a solid effort for Kertus Davis in the No. 49 GetMoreVacations.com Chevrolet for Jay Robinson Racing closed out the top-20.

Local native Casey Atwood in the No. 05 for Day Enterprises Racing will start 23rd while NASCAR Camping World Truck Series standout Brian Scott will make his inaugural Nationwide start from the 24th spot in the No. 10 Dollar General TOYOTA Camry for Braun Racing.

Tim Andrews in the No. 31 Zona Health for Rick Ware Racing grabs their first start of the 2009 season by placing 27th. Andrews is being coached by father Tim Andrews, a former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship crew chief who is also serving as crew chief for his son’s first NNS start of the season.

28th went to former Nashville ARCA winner Jeremy Clements in the No. 50 Saxon Group Chevrolet Impala SS.

Ken Butler III making his first Nationwide start at Nashville looks to roar his No. 23 Aaron’s Dream Machine Chevrolet Impala from the 30th position. Butler, a rookie in the R3 Motorsports machine is the 2008 pole winner at Nashville in the ARCA RE/MAX Series and finished sixth in that event. He will start third race of the year today.

Eric McClure was 31st in the No. 24 Hefty Ford Fusion for Rensi-Hamilton Racing.

Brian Keselowski in the No. 26 Dodge paced himself into the field with a 33rd place effort. Teammate Dennis Setzer in the No. 96 followed close behind in 34th.

Shelby Howard in the No. 70 Foretravel Motorcoach Chevrolet Impala SS will start 35th in the ML Motorsports entry. Jeff Green a late entry for MacDonald Motorsports squeezed his way into the starting grid with the 36th fastest lap.

Kenny Wallace and Scott Lagasse, Jr. will look to maneuver to the front after qualifying deep in the field from 37th and 38th.

Morgan Shepherd in the No. 89 Eldora Speedway-Lagina Plumbing Chevrolet and Kenny Hendrick in the No. 40 unsponsored Dodge comprised the top-40.

Brandon Whitt and David Green make the field by 2009 owner points and will start 41st and 42nd. Benny Gordon, a former USAR Hooter’s Pro Cup standout will make his first Nationwide start of the season shotgun on the field in 43rd. At Bristol, Gordon had qualified for the event but was tossed out after NASCAR found illegal fuel in his No. 72 entry.

Brad Teague (No. 52); Andy Poinstein (No. 02); Mike Harmon (No. 84); Ryan Hackett (No. 76) and Mark Green (No. 0) failed to qualify.

Harmon has attempted all the races in 2009 along with Teague. Harmon will attempt a double-duty effort at Talladega Superspeedway later this month.

Hackett experienced an engine failure in practice and didn’t have enough steam to make the field for the first time this year. He’ll try again in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Kansas later this month.

Green, in Johnny Davis’s No. 0 bid had a faulty clutch in qualifying and didn’t maneuver a time trials lap.

Saturday’s event marks the first of four Dash-4-Cash gigs for the NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers. Should a NASCAR Nationwide Series driver collect a victory, Nationwide, the official sponsor of the NASCAR Nationwide Series will bonus the driver with a check for $25,000.00. Nashville, Kentucky, Iowa and Memphis signifies the four eligible events. The only drivers that cannot grab the extra cash are NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers who haven’t competed in all the NASCAR Nationwide Series events this year which includes David Ragan and Michael Waltrip.

The Nationwide 300 is set to take the checkered flag shortly after 3:00 p.m. local time live on ESPN2, MRN Radio and Sirius / XM Satellite radio.