Kenseth claims All-Star pole

The winner of the 2004 All-Star race and his team completed three laps around the 1.5-mile oval and a four-tyre change in 2:01.401, more than 1.8 seconds clear of defending event champion Jimmie Johnson, who was second.

The pit crew, led by crew chief Robbie Reisser, performed the quickest pitstop of the night, servicing the No. 17 Ford of Kenseth in 11.6 seconds, nearly a second quicker than most of the other crews managed.

"These guys give me better stops than I probably give them performance on the race-track," Kenseth said. "I'm pretty fired up, because the car felt right on the track and we had a great stop when we needed it."

Johnson's qualifying run underlined his status as one of the clear favourites to claim the one million US dollar cheque. He completed the unique qualifying run in 2:03.203 seconds, edging Penske's Kurt Busch by 0.450 seconds.

"Getting to pit-road and getting off from pit-road, I gave some time," Johnson said. "But we qualified second last year and won the All-Star event, if anybody wants to get in the numbers and all that type of thing. Hopefully that'll be a good sign for us."

Kevin Harvick was fourth, while Jeff Burton completed the top five, doing his run with his car still featuring the Cingular logos, as his team still await on tomorrow's court hearing, which could postpone the change of branding on his No. 31 car.

Points leader Jeff Gordon, who seeks a record-breaking fourth victory in the event, will start the race from seventh on the grid, while Dale Earnhardt Jr, the first rookie ever to win the All-Star event, in 2000, will line up tenth.

Tony Stewart had a disappointing qualifying, finishing 17th, while veteran Mark Martin, who won the event two years ago, spun coming out of the pits and didn't complete his run. He will start from 18th.

Three more drivers will join the field for the All-Star Challenge tomorrow. The winner and the runner-up in the Nextel Open will line up on the tenth row, while a driver selected by the fans through the Nextel Fan Vote will take the last spot of the grid.

Pos  Driver              Make       Speed    Time
 1.  Matt Kenseth        Ford       44.481   2:01.401
 2.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet  43.830   2:03.203 + 1.802
 3.  Kurt Busch          Dodge      43.671   2:03.653 + 2.252
 4.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet  43.590   2:03.881 + 2.480
 5.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet  43.587   2:03.891 + 2.490
 6.  Kyle Busch          Chevrolet  43.572   2:03.932 + 2.531
 7.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet  43.566   2:03.950 + 2.549
 8.  Ryan Newman         Dodge      43.393   2:04.443 + 3.042
 9.  Denny Hamlin        Chevrolet  43.368   2:04.515 + 3.114
10.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet  43.197   2:05.009 + 3.608
11.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge      43.132   2:05.197 + 3.796
12.  Greg Biffle         Ford       43.045   2:05.450 + 4.049
13.  Dale Jarrett        Toyota     42.613   2:06.723 + 5.322
14.  Brian Vickers       Toyota     42.593   2:06.781 + 5.380
15.  Bobby Labonte       Dodge      42.507   2:07.038 + 5.637
16.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet  42.384   2:07.406 + 6.005
17.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet  41.164   2:11.183 + 9.782
18.  Mark Martin         Chevrolet  N/A