Kansas NASCAR: Matt Kenseth beats Roush Fenway cars to pole
Matt Kenseth set a new track record at Kansas Speedway to claim pole for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race
Kenseth put in a 28.145s lap in his Joe Gibbs Toyota to push the Roush Fenway Fords of Carl Edwards and Ricky Stenhouse Jr to second and third.
Practice pacesetter Edwards had only just knocked his team-mate off pole before Kenseth took top spot with the penultimate run of the session.
Sam Hornish Jr, making his first appearance in the Gen 6 car, was fourth fastest in his Penske Ford.
Kyle Busch will start fifth in the back-up Joe Gibbs Toyota after hitting the wall in practice.
Aric Almirola had been fastest for the first half of qualifying and will line up sixth ahead of Martin Truex Jr. Mark Martin, Ryan Newman and Clint Bowyer complete the top 10.
Points leader Jimmie Johnson could only manage 20th, just ahead of Joey Logano and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Defending champion Brad Keselowski struggled to 30th in practice but qualifying went even worse as he ended up 33rd fastest.
A mistake from Jeff Gordon meant he did not set a time, the four-time champion hitting the wall and damaging the rear of his Hendrick Chevrolet.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Toyota 28.145s
2. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford 28.162s + 0.017s
3. Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Fenway Ford 28.164s + 0.019s
4. Sam Hornish Jr Penske Ford 28.213s + 0.068s
5. Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Toyota 28.294s + 0.149s
6. Aric Almirola Petty Ford 28.305s + 0.160s
7. Martin Truex Jr Waltrip Toyota 28.324s + 0.179s
8. Mark Martin Joe Gibbs Toyota 28.379s + 0.234s
9. Ryan Newman Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 28.388s + 0.243s
10. Clint Bowyer Waltrip Toyota 28.401s + 0.256s
11. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 28.411s + 0.266s
12. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet 28.454s + 0.309s
13. Kurt Busch Furniture Row Chevrolet 28.491s + 0.346s
14. Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 28.538s + 0.393s
15. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 28.542s + 0.397s
16. Brian Vickers Joe Gibbs Toyota 28.544s + 0.399s
17. Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 28.568s + 0.423s
18. Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 28.608s + 0.463s
19. Jeff Burton Childress Chevrolet 28.620s + 0.475s
20. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet 28.656s + 0.511s
21. Joey Logano Penske Ford 28.675s + 0.530s
22. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet 28.676s + 0.531s
23. Elliott Sadler Joe Gibbs Toyota 28.724s + 0.579s
24. Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 28.758s + 0.613s
25. David Ragan Front Row Ford 28.809s + 0.664s
26. Kasey Kahne Hendrick Chevrolet 28.820s + 0.675s
27. David Gilliland Front Row Ford 28.834s + 0.689s
28. Michael McDowell Parsons Ford 28.835s + 0.690s
29. Casey Mears Germain Ford 28.889s + 0.744s
30. David Reutimann BK Toyota 28.891s + 0.746s
31. Kevin Harvick Childress Chevrolet 28.891s + 0.746s
32. Travis Kvapil BK Toyota 28.919s + 0.774s
33. Brad Keselowski Penske Ford 28.930s + 0.785s
34. Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Toyota 28.945s + 0.800s
35. Mike Bliss Humprey Smith Toyota 28.950s + 0.805s
36. Josh Wise Front Row Ford 28.967s + 0.822s
37. Joe Nemechek NEMCO-JRR Toyota 29.046s + 0.901s
38. Timmy Hill FAS Lane Ford 29.081s + 0.936s
39. David Stremme Swan Toyota 29.087s + 0.942s
40. Landon Casill Circle Sport Chevrolet 29.146s + 1.001s
41. JJ Yeley Baldwin Chevrolet 29.160s + 1.015s
42. Regan Smith Phoenix Chevrolet 29.230s + 1.085s
43. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet No time
Did not qualify:
Dave Blaney Baldwin Chevrolet 29.378s + 1.233s
Share Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments