Kasey Kahne on NASCAR Sprint Cup pole for Hendrick at Martinsville

The Hendrick Motorsports driver prevented Richard Childress Racing's Kevin Harvick from sweeping NASCAR pole positions on Saturday after he had earlier set the benchmark in qualifying for the Truck Series.

Kahne set a fastest lap of 19.496 seconds at an average speed of 97.128mph to claim the 24th pole position of his Cup career, beating Harvick's time by 16 hundredths of a second, with 10 more drivers trailing by less than a tenth of a second at the half-mile track, NASCAR's shortest and slowest oval.

Following a tough start to his Hendrick Motorsports career - he currently ranks a lowly 27th in the standings - Kahne hopes to translate his qualifying speed into a solid result on race day.

"Hopefully we'll have a solid day tomorrow, that's what we need to do," said Kahne. "We've had great Fridays and Saturdays and just haven't put together a Sunday yet."

Four-time Martinsville winner Denny Hamlin was third for Joe Gibbs Racing ahead of fellow Toyota driver Clint Bowyer, as Michael Waltrip Racing cars continued to show speed, Brian Vickers qualifying sixth, while Martin Truex Jr was 13th.

Jeff Gordon had dominated practice on Friday but come qualifying he was only able to just make it into the top 10, while his Hendrick team-mate Jimmie Johnson, also a multiple winner at Martinsville, was further back in 22nd.

Points leader Greg Biffle was a lowly 26th as Roush Fenway cars struggled for qualifying speed, the best of them being Matt Kenseth in 21st.

Tony Raines had initially made the field but his times were disallowed following inspection after his car was found to be too low, which allowed JJ Yeley to take the start tomorrow.

Mike Bliss failed to make the cut, his car spilling fluid on track, causing a further delay in a session that had already been pushed back in the schedule due to rain in the morning. Kurt Busch was allowed a second qualifying attempt after his first run was spoiled by Bliss' issue.

Scott Speed was another non-qualifier.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                     Time     Gap
 1.  Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet           19.496s
 2.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet          19.512s  + 0.016s
 3.  Denny Hamlin        Gibbs Toyota                 19.521s  + 0.025s
 4.  Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota               19.521s  + 0.025s
 5.  Ryan Newman         Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       19.524s  + 0.028s
 6.  Brian Vickers       Waltrip Toyota               19.569s  + 0.073s
 7.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Dodge                 19.572s  + 0.076s
 8.  Kyle Busch          Gibbs Toyota                 19.573s  + 0.077s
 9.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet           19.576s  + 0.080s
10.  Joey Logano         Gibbs Toyota                 19.581s  + 0.085s
11.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet          19.582s  + 0.086s
12.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                   19.597s  + 0.101s
13.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota               19.606s  + 0.110s
14.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet           19.637s  + 0.141s
15.  Tony Stewart        Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       19.659s  + 0.163s
16.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota         19.681s  + 0.185s
17.  Regan Smith         Furniture Row Chevrolet      19.684s  + 0.188s
18.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet          19.688s  + 0.192s
19.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt-Ganassi Chevrolet  19.715s  + 0.219s
20.  Aric Almirola       Petty Ford                   19.715s  + 0.219s
21.  Matt Kenseth        Roush Fenway Ford            19.731s  + 0.235s
22.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet           19.755s  + 0.259s
23.  Michael McDowell    Parsons Ford                 19.756s  + 0.260s
24.  David Ragan         Front Row Ford               19.760s  + 0.264s
25.  Casey Mears         Germain Ford                 19.767s  + 0.271s
26.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford            19.778s  + 0.282s
27.  AJ Allmendinger     Penske Dodge                 19.779s  + 0.283s
28.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford            19.806s  + 0.310s
29.  David Reutimann     Baldwin Chevrolet            19.806s  + 0.310s
30.  Josh Wise           Front Row Ford               19.811s  + 0.315s
31.  Landon Cassill      BK Toyota                    19.826s  + 0.330s
32.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt-Ganassi Chevrolet  19.833s  + 0.337s
33.  Scott Riggs         R3 Chevrolet                 19.859s  + 0.363s
34.  Travis Kvapil       BK Toyota                    19.860s  + 0.364s
35.  Reed Sorenson       Turn One Chevrolet           19.886s  + 0.390s
36.  Ken Schrader        FAS Lane Ford                19.906s  + 0.410s
37.  Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                 19.946s  + 0.450s
38.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford               19.979s  + 0.483s
39.  David Stremme       Inception Toyota             20.015s  + 0.519s
40.  Kurt Busch          Phoenix Chevrolet            20.024s  + 0.528s
41.  Hermie Sadler       Childress Chevrolet          20.041s  + 0.545s
42.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet            20.322s  + 0.826s
43.  JJ Yeley            Robinson-Blakeney Toyota     20.315s  + 0.819s

Did not qualify:

     Scott Speed         Hamilton Means Toyota        20.560s  + 1.064s
     Mike Bliss          Humphrey-Smith Toyota        22.318s  + 2.822s
     Tony Raines         Front Row Ford               20.197s  + 0.701s