FONTANA, Calif. -- For the first time since he fractured his foot playing Frisbee six weeks ago, Carl Edwards is walking without the aid of crutches. Now he's hoping a trip to California will help straighten out his somewhat hobbled championship hopes.

Winless in 2009 after winning nine times last season, Edwards sorely needs a victory, and perhaps Auto Club Speedway is his best chance. In 10 starts at Fontana, he's finished outside of the top 10 only once -- and took home the winner's trophy in the rain-delayed 2008 spring race.

Even though he's 10th in the standings, 165 points behind Mark Martin, Edwards remains confident heading into Sunday's Pepsi 500.

"You come to every race to win, and until it's a mathematical impossibility, we fight for the championship," Edwards said Friday. "Yes, I'd love to be leading Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin by 165 points. I guess in 2006 at this point, Jimmie was the exact number behind the leader that we are, and somehow he managed to pull it off.

"We're the same team that won more races and scored more points than anyone else last season, so I still hang on to the fact that we can do it. We just have to execute it. We have to go put our flag out there."

Based on recent races here, Johnson and Edwards would have to be considered the odds-on favorites. However, Denny Hamlin certainly showed Friday that he should be mentioned in the same sentence as those two after posting a qualifying lap of 183.870 mph, putting him on the pole for Sunday's race. In all, Chase contenders made up seven of the top 11 positions, including Johnson in third and Edwards in 11th.

On the other hand, drivers like Brian Vickers (32nd) and Ryan Newman (36th) will find themselves deep in traffic at the start. Matt Kenseth has consistently proven that's not a huge handicap, since his three victories came from starting positions of 31st, 25th and 24th.

"We didn't quite get the front end just right," Edwards said. "With one more crack at it, I think we could have been really good, but that's OK. Hopefully, that'll be in the top half of the field. And it's a long race. If we have a good race car, we should be able to be up there, no problem." (Continued)