Martinsville NASCAR: Jamie McMurray beats Chase drivers to pole

The Ganassi racer was quickest in the opening qualifying round on Friday afternoon, but he needed two laps in the second round to get ahead of early leader Matt Kenseth and secure P1.

His 18.954s lap was a new qualifying record on Martinsville's half-mile layout, but was still only barely enough to prevent Penske's Joey Logano from beating him in the final minutes.

"It's a good start to our weekend, but the first pitstall here is a really big deal," McMurray said. "When the team told me the [lap] time I figured it would be tough to beat, although you never know because those Penske cars have been so quick this year."

Logano earned his eighth front-row start of the season as a consolation prize, as well as bragging rights as the highest-qualifying Chase driver for the first race in the three-round Eliminator leg of the championship run-off.

Kenseth was forced to settle for third on the grid alongside Tony Stewart.

Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski complete an all-Chase third row, leaving Ryan Newman (ninth) and Carl Edwards (11th) as the only other Chase drivers who survived through to the second qualifying round.

Jeff Gordon only narrowly missed out on progressing; the Hendrick driver being first outside the bubble in 13th.

"I thought the first lap might be enough that we could squeak our way in there," he said.

"We made a few adjustments but just couldn't get the drive out [of the corner]. I don't mind starting 13th, it's not a bad place to start. You just want that good pitstall, and that's what could hurt us."

It was a very different story for the final Chase driver Kevin Harvick, who was wildly off with his set-up in the first round, and then compounded his problems by brushing the wall. His race will begin from 33rd.

"We just missed it today," he said. "We were way too loose. We have to get better [in practice on Saturday] and be ready to go on Sunday."