BRISTOL, Tenn. — Carl Edwards is doing his best to slow Kyle Busch’s momentum.

Edwards won his first pole position of the season Friday, turning a lap at 121.860 mph in qualifying for tonight’s Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Edwards, who trails only the dominating Busch in the point standings, is 222 points behind, but followed up his victory last weekend in Michigan with his fourth career pole.

“That’s as fast as I could go,” Edwards said. “The pole is huge for us. This track, obviously track position, pit stall selection, those things are really important.”

Busch, with eight wins and two poles this season, will start ninth.

David Reutimann put his Toyota on the outside of Edwards’ Ford on the front row, turning a lap at 121.175 mph, with the Chevrolets of Jeff Gordon and rookie Regan Smith in Row 2.

Reutimann’s effort was the best of his Cup career.

“I had to pedal it pretty hard coming off of turn two because I got back to the gas pretty quick and it shoved the front end a little bit,” he said. “All in all, it ended up being a pretty good lap. It gave us a good pit selection and good starting position.”

Gordon, a four-time series champion but non-winner through 23 races this season, is among the nine drivers battling for the final seven spots in the Chase for the championship.

Other drivers battling to stay in, or move into, the 12-driver playoff included Kevin Harvick (8th), who will start sixth; Kasey Kahne (11th), who qualified 13th; Greg Biffle (7th), who will start 14th; and Denny Hamlin (12th), who will start 21st.

Matt Kenseth (10th) starts 25th.

Clint Bowyer and David Ragan, the drivers tied for 13th and only 26 points behind the struggling Hamlin for the final spot, qualified 22nd and 27th, respectively, but Ragan will have to start at the back of the field after trying too hard and crashing during his lap.

Keselowski takes Nationwide win

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Brad Keselowski passed Clint Bowyer with 24 laps to go Friday night and pulled away for his second victory of the season in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series, capping a remarkable run from the 37th starting position at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Bowyer dominated the race after he slipped by Dario Franchitti for the lead on lap 107, but appeared to wiggle exiting the second turn on the 227th lap as Keselowski went past him.

“We were dead equal, Clint and I,” Keselowski said after climbing from his car in the cloud of smoke of a just-completed burnout. “I needed to catch a break and he gave it to me.”

Car owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. greeted Keselowski after the finish.

“Victory Lane, Bristol,” the boss told his driver. “It gets no better than that, man.”

Bowyer, who has won just once, was dejected after leading 121 laps.

“It was good right up until whatever lap that was where I made a mistake,” he said, adding that he tried too quickly to get back on the gas coming out of the second turn. “It came out from underneath me there and I had to check up or I would have spun out.”

Bowyer quickly gathered his car and gave chase, but Keselowski held on, moving him closer to Bowyer atop the points standings after 29 of 35 races. Keselowski is now 122 points behind Bowyer, and Carl Edwards dropped to third.

Bowyer held on to finish second, followed by Greg Biffle, pole-sitter Cale Gale and David Stremme in a race that was slowed just five times by cautions, and for only 26 laps.

GOLF

Stricker leads at Barclays

PARAMUS, N.J. — Steve Stricker shot a 7-under 64 in perfect morning conditions Friday to take a three-stroke lead over Hunter Mahan in the FedEx Cup playoff opener.

The 41-year-old Stricker, 21st in the FedEx Cup standings, had a 10-under 132 total on the tree-lined A.W. Tillinghast layout, the tournament site for the first time after 41 seasons at Westchester. He hasn’t made a bogey since dropping strokes on the first two holes Thursday, playing his last 23 holes in 11 under.

Mahan, 31st in the FedEx Cup standings, followed his opening 62 with a 73.

Kenny Perry, effectively the FedEx Cup leader with top-ranked Tiger Woods sidelined by a knee injury, shot a 67 to join Angel Cabrera (67) and Dudley Hart (69) at 6 under.

Phil Mickelson was eight strokes back at 2 under after a 70. Padraig Harrington had rounds of 72 and 73 to miss the cut by two strokes.

Boeing Classic

SNOQUALMIE, Wash. — Mark Wiebe birdied four of his first five holes, then added two more on the back nine to shoot 67, giving him a share of the first-round lead with Scott Simpson at the Boeing Classic.

A trio of golfers finished at 4 under — Gary Hallberg, David Edwards and Bob Gilder — and another six golfers were only two shots off the lead, including Tom Kite and Hale Irwin.

Scott Hoch withdrew after his 10th hole when a lingering wrist injury flared up. He was 1-under at the time.

FOOTBALL

Lions sign Drew Henson

ALLEN PARK, Mich. — The Detroit Lions have signed quarterback Drew Henson, a high school and college standout who has struggled at the professional level in baseball and football.

Terms of the signing, announced on the team’s Web site, weren’t disclosed.

Henson was signed after second-year quarterback Drew Stanton sprained the thumb on his throwing hand in practice Thursday. He will be sidelined about a month.

The 28-year-old Henson shared quarterback duty at Michigan with Tom Brady. He played three seasons as a third baseman in the New York Yankees’ organization before the NFL’s Houston Texans drafted him in the sixth round, 192nd overall, in 2003.

Henson was traded to the Dallas Cowboys in 2004, started one game and was released at the end of the 2006 preseason. He signed with the Minnesota Vikings, who released him after training camp in 2007.

BASKETBALL

Finley stays with Spurs

SAN ANTONIO — The Spurs have re-signed guard Michael Finley.

Terms of the deal weren’t released.

The 35-year-old Finley started 61 games last season, with sixth man award winner Manu Ginobili providing a spark for San Antonio behind him. Finley averaged 10.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists, playing in all 82 games in his 13th NBA season. He shot 37 percent from 3-point range.

Hornest add Devin Brown

NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Hornets turned to a familiar face to fill an opening in the backcourt, signing Devin Brown on Friday.

Brown, formerly of the Cleveland Cavaliers, played with New Orleans two seasons ago and was brought back to bolster the depth in the backcourt depth. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The move was made following the departure of backup guard Jannero Pargo, who joined a team in Russia.

Brown, 6-foot-5, likely will be the primary backup to All-Star point guard Chris Paul and will join recently signed James Posey as a backup shooting guard. Brown, like Posey, also can play forward.