By DAVID POOLE, dpoole@charlotteobserver.com


Tony Gutierrez, AP
David Ragan holds up the Busch Series O'Reilly 300 pole award helmet in victory lane at Texas Motor Speedway after he earned the pole for


FORT WORTH, Texas – David Ragan will start from the pole in the O’Reilly 300, the NASCAR Busch Series race scheduled for Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway, after running 191.063 mph to beat Roush Racing teammate Carl Edwards for the No. 1 spot.

Edwards, who has won the past two Busch races and leads the series standings, ran 189.354 mph and will start on the outside of Row 1.

“That just puts more pressure on us to go fast in the race,” Ragan said after running more than two-tenths of a second faster than anyone else. “I don’t want to be running 15th on the first lap.”

Ragan said that qualifying for the Truck Series at tracks like this 1.5-mile oval helped him when it came to running the speed he did.

“Qualifying in the trucks, you hold it to the floor and, man, if feels so fast,” he said. “You’re not going that fast down the straightaways but through the corners it feels like you’re flying. …You almost get whiplash through the corner you’re going to so fast.”

Kyle Busch and Casey Mears start on the second row today with Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin on Row 3.

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