BROOKLYN, Mich.â€”Carl Edwards finally won a pole for a Sprint Cup race this year. For real.

Edwards has half-jokingly said he should have been credited with two poles this yearâ€”one when Matt Kenseth won the pole but later was found with an illegal light-weight piece in the engine at Kansas and another time when qualifying was rained out at Talladega and he had the top practice speed.

But for the first time this year, Edwards earned an official pole award as his speed of 202.452 miles an hour was the quickest lap Friday in qualifying for the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Because he earned an official pole, Edwards now has a spot in the 2014 preseason Sprint Unlimited for pole winners.

â€œI was about to start lobbying to see if you would let me drive the pace car or something in that race,â€ Edwards quipped.

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Joining Edwards on the front row will be Kurt Busch, who turned a lap of 201.879 mph around the 2-mile oval.

Speeds were expected to be fast as the MIS pavement is just one year old. Thirteen drivers eclipsed 200 miles an hour in qualifying in the first race for the new â€œGen-6â€ car at Michigan.

Edwards said the cars wonâ€™t handle as well in a race setup.

â€œThis new car is so fast here and has so much grip,â€ Edwards said. â€œWhen you pull the tape off the cars you have to really make the car work. Having that tape on there with all that downforce (for qualifying) can make the car feel really good and make it go for a lap but it will be a tough race.

â€œI think if it goes long green flag then none of us know how the tire will act and you have to be able to adjust on your car as well. The race will be different and hopefully we can master that whole problem and go to victory lane. That would be huge.â€

For Edwards, winning the pole was another sign that his team is turning the corner. Although second in points, Roush Fenway Racing has just one win this year, and that was by Edwards in the second race of the season at Phoenix.

â€œThis is one lap and it is good,â€ Edwards said. â€œI am really happy. The process that is going to put us out in front of Hendrick Motorsports and the guys at Joe Gibbs Racing and the rest of these guys every Sunday, that process is just starting.

â€œWe can use this, these positive things like pole position and hopefully a win and Greg (Biffleâ€™s second-place) run last week, we can use these things to move forward and gain faith in a better process and I think that is going to be great. The engine is a big part of it and today the engine group came through huge.â€

Kasey Kahne, Paul Menard and Aric Almirola rounded out the top-five.

Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya were fifth through 10th.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won the MIS June race a year ago, will start 12th. Danica Patrick, in her first Cup event at Michigan, will start 37th in the 43-car field.

With 44 entries, Scott Riggs was the lone driver not to make the race.

Sprint Cup teams have two practices Saturday in preparation of the race Sunday (1 p.m., TNT).