NASCAR notebook

AVONDALE, Ariz. - Carl Edwards won another race Saturday, this time holding off Busch series runner-up Clint Bowyer to take the Arizona 200 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Bowyer's second-place run, combined with a sixth-place finish for points leader and reigning Busch Series champion Martin Truex Jr., cut the leader's margin to 64 points with only Saturday's race at Homestead-Miami Speedway remaining.

But all Truex needs to do to assure himself of becoming the first repeat winner in the series since Dale Earnhardt Jr. - the co-owner of his car - in 1998-99, is finish 12th or better, even if Bowyer wins and leads the most laps.

It was the fifth Busch win of the season for Edwards, who also has won four times in his first full season in Nextel Cup and goes into today's Checker Auto Parts 500 with two consecutive Cup victories and third in the points, behind Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson.

BUSCH CHARGED: Kurt Busch was charged with felony reckless driving late Friday following a stop by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department near Phoenix International Speedway.

According to the incident report, the defending Nextel Cup Series champion refused to take a field sobriety test at the scene following a preliminary breath test and was transported to a sheriff sub-station under suspension of driving under the influence at the speedway.

According to a sheriff's spokesman, Busch was clocked at 60 mph in a 45-mph zone at 8:20 p.m. when he swerved across a double-yellow line to avoid somebody parked at an intersection. He not only veered into another lane, he sped through the stop sign.

HAMLIN'S BIG STEP: A week after losing his interim status at Joe Gibbs Racing, Denny Hamlin put the FedEx Chevrolet on the pole for today's Checker Auto Parts 500.

Hamlin, making his seventh start for the team, ran 134.173 mph during time trials Saturday afternoon. He replaced Scott Leffler and Terry Labonte in the No. 11 Chevrolet seven weeks ago, and only last week was hired to stay in the car full-time in 2006.