Carl Edwards wins Sylvania 300 pole

There was no reason for any drivers to lace up the gloves and channel their inner Floyd Mayweather and spar a few rounds Friday against the bag.

Darrell Wallace Jr.: Third-place finish in Xfinity race was a career best, outdid others in the series with 1-2 finish by Cup regulars (Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth). “Just no speed – I don’t know“, said Kyle Busch, who qualified 17th. “I practiced that one this morning”. “He was trying to pin me down and I’ve got to get back up or else there would be a hell of a mess in Turn 1”. Will there be more confrontations – on track or off – between Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson? Harvick was on the ropes previous year as well and he bounced back to win the next two races.

Two laps later, after trailing blue smoke from the rubbing tire, Harvick went heavily into the wall when the tire blew.

NASCAR heads to New Hampshire for the second time this season for the Sylvania 3oo. But he is not the only driver who could make some history over the weekend, as the points race continues. Defending! – Sprint Cup champion is buried in 15th in the standings and will likely need a win Sunday or next week at Dover to advance to the next round. After the race, though, the disappointment seemed to be focused on the relationship Stewart-Haas Racing has with Hendrick Motorsports.

Carl Edwards showed leading the way in practice was a sign of good things to come Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“As much as we work together and share information, and I feel like we’ve helped them a lot this year trying to get their cars better, it’s just disappointing”, Childers said.

Just how aggressive will be something to watch on Sunday. “It’s a fine line of being really aggressive and going for it and not getting enough”.

“If you’re going to race like that, you’re going to have to man up a little bit”, Harvick said of Keselowski that day. “I can do that myself”. Junior, with his win at Daytona, is one of only two drivers, Joey Logano the other, to find victory lane while not driving a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

His lone win at New Hampshire came in 2006 and he is winless at Dover.

Jimmie Johnson: Finishing 11th dropped him from first in the stanings to seventh.

The two Chevrolet teams are pseudo teammates, and Johnson and Harvick have a lengthy relationship dating to their early racing days in California. Harvick finished 42nd.

“I wasn’t surprised that he was that upset”, Johnson said. “I certainly know what I hope for, but there’s no telling what will end up taking place”. But Josh Jones, Harvick’s business manager, quickly got between the two drivers and prevented the situation from escalating as Johnson walked away.

Fast-forward to 2015: Harvick aims to finish fast, and isn’t afraid of any rumblings that may happen in the process. “I wouldn’t call that a hit”, Gordon said. “I think that right front air hurt me in the middle”.

And it also plays into Harvick’s contentious nature.

Kenseth leads the standings and has four wins.

“I’ve been on the flip side of that before and although I wasn’t happy to see whoever it was”. “It’s so hard when you’re trying to pick-up time in practice and every time we freed the auto up, we got quicker”.

“That’s not bad”, said Logano of his eighth place on the grid.