Kenseth on Pole at Phoenix - Stewart Bests Edwards

AVONDALE, AZ - RIS - Matt Kenseth backup up quick practive times by winning the pole for Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.  It was a Ford sweep of the top three positions as two Richard Petty Motorsports drivers, A,J, Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose, qualified second and third.

The top two in the championship standings stayed close together in qualifying.  Second-place Tony Stewart will start in eighth place and Edwards will start ninth. 

"Jimmy (Fennig) had a strategy to go fast in the first practice to go out late," Kenseth said.  "Even though we knew the temperature would be hotter he thought the track could be faster with more cars having run on it. A lot of people chose the opposite strategy and worked on race setup in the first practice and did their qualifying stuff in the second practice to go out early. He had a plan and made the right adjustments."

With Kenseth winning the pole, it put Edwards on the inside and Stewart on the outside at the race's start, an advantage for Edwards.  When asked if that were by design, Kenseth smiled.

"I had no idea where Carl qualified," Kenseth said.  “Yeah, I planned that. I am that good.” (laughter).

Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed -Fastest -Next
1 17 Matt Kenseth Crown Royal Ford 26.258 137.101 0.000 0.000
2 43 A J Allmendinger WIX Filters Ford 26.384 136.446 0.126 0.126
3 9 Marcos Ambrose DeWalt Ford 26.411 136.307 0.153 0.027
4 5 Mark Martin GoDaddy.com Chevrolet 26.455 136.080 0.197 0.044
5 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Auto Parts Toyota 26.455 136.080 0.197 0.000
6 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald's Chevrolet 26.469 136.008 0.211 0.014
7 00 David Reutimann TUMS Toyota 26.473 135.988 0.215 0.004
8 14 Tony Stewart Mobil 1 / Office Depot Chevrolet 26.488 135.911 0.230 0.015
9 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford 26.529 135.701 0.271 0.041
10 4 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Toyota 26.534 135.675 0.276 0.005
11 27 Paul Menard Peak / Menards Chevrolet 26.547 135.609 0.289 0.013
12 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Dodge 26.585 135.415 0.327 0.038
13 6 David Ragan UPS My Choice Ford 26.588 135.399 0.330 0.003
14 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Global Mining Chevrolet 26.608 135.298 0.350 0.020
15 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 26.613 135.272 0.355 0.005
16 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's / Kobalt Tools Chevrolet 26.618 135.247 0.360 0.005
17 22 Kurt Busch Shell Pennzoil Dodge 26.622 135.227 0.364 0.004
18 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota 26.624 135.216 0.366 0.002
19 * 84 Cole Whitt(i) Red Bull Racing Toyota 26.625 135.211 0.367 0.001
20 * 7 Robby Gordon SPEED Energy / MAPEI Dodge 26.630 135.186 0.372 0.005
21 51 Landon Cassill(i) Phoenix Construction Chevrolet 26.631 135.181 0.373 0.001
22 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Retro Diet Mt. Dew / National Guard Chevrolet 26.634 135.166 0.376 0.003
23 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Chevrolet 26.689 134.887 0.431 0.055
24 * 46 Scott Speed(i) Green Stuff Absorbent Ford 26.694 134.862 0.436 0.005
25 20 Joey Logano The Home Depot Toyota 26.696 134.852 0.438 0.002
26 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet 26.704 134.811 0.446 0.008
27 29 Kevin Harvick Budweiser Chevrolet 26.715 134.756 0.457 0.011
28 33 Clint Bowyer USO / Cheerios / Hamburger Helper Chevrolet 26.751 134.574 0.493 0.036
29 16 Greg Biffle 3M / Meguiar's Ford 26.756 134.549 0.498 0.005
30 39 Ryan Newman U.S. Army Veterans Day Chevrolet 26.764 134.509 0.506 0.008
31 47 Bobby Labonte Wounded Warrior Project / Clorox / Kleenex Toyota 26.793 134.363 0.535 0.029
32 * 87 Joe Nemechek(i) AM FM Energy Pellet & Wood Stoves Toyota 26.837 134.143 0.579 0.044
33 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Freight Toyota 26.850 134.078 0.592 0.013
34 18 Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Toyota 26.936 133.650 0.678 0.086
35 * 66 Michael McDowell HP Racing Toyota 26.979 133.437 0.721 0.043
36 * 37 Mike Skinner(i) MaxQ Motorsports Ford 27.023 133.220 0.765 0.044
37 * 55 Travis Kvapil(i) Aloft Hotels Ford 27.040 133.136 0.782 0.017
38 13 Casey Mears GEICO Toyota 27.062 133.028 0.804 0.022
39 * 35 Dave Blaney Golden Corral Chevrolet 27.157 132.563 0.899 0.095
40 32 Mike Bliss(i) Veterans United Home Loans Ford 27.184 132.431 0.926 0.027
41 * 23 Scott Riggs(i) North Texas Pipe Toyota 27.336 131.694 1.078 0.152
42 * 30 David Stremme Inception Motorsports Chevrolet 27.355 131.603 1.097 0.019
43 OP 36 Geoffrey Bodine Luke & Associates Inc. Chevrolet 27.417 131.305 1.159 0.062
44 OP 38 J J Yeley Vampt Ford 27.911 128.981 1.653 0.494
45 * 71 Andy Lally # TRG Motorsports Ford 28.215 127.592 1.957 0.304
46 OP 34 David Gilliland Aloft Hotels Ford 29.252 123.069 2.994 1.037
*Required to qualify on time, OP - Top 35 in Owner Points, PC - Past Champion,(i)Ineligible for driver points in this series