Matt Kenseth claims first NASCAR Sprint Cup pole of 2012 at Daytona

The Roush Fenway driver, who won the season-opening Daytona 500, is looking to become only the fourth driver in NASCAR history to sweep both Daytona points-paying events in the same season, a feat last achieved 30 years ago.

Kenseth ran at an average speed of 192.386 mph on his second flying lap, a pace that would remain unbeaten after the remaining 13 drivers completed their qualifying attempts. His pole is the second of the season for Roush at Daytona, as the leading Ford team swept the front row for the season opener.

The blue oval brand is actually on a streak of three consecutive Daytona wins following Trevor Bayne's maiden win in the 500 and David Ragan's victory a year ago.

"It does feel good but I really didn't have to do a lot with it," said Kenseth about his pole-setting lap. "It's all these guys staying behind me and everybody at Roush Fenway Racing that prepares these really fast cars, specially Doug Yates giving us the power, so it's all about getting the car right and having a big motor to run those two laps. Can't wait for tomorrow night."

Reigning champion Tony Stewart had qualified second beside Kenseth but his time was disallowed due to an open cooling hose in the cockpit, promoting his Stewart-Haas team-mate Ryan Newman to the front row ahead of Hendrick Motorsports' Kasey Kahne, Roush's Greg Biffle and Hendrick's Jeff Gordon.

The Penske Racing Dodges of AJ Allmendinger and Brad Keselowski - winner of the last restrictor plate race at Talladega - were both among the top 10 in qualifying. The best Toyota of Michael Waltrip Racing's Martin Truex Jr was only 19th fastest at the end of the session.

Former Cup champion and four-time Daytona winner Bill Elliott will start sixth for series debutant Turner Motorsports, and was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in qualifying, while Robert Richardson Jr failed to make the field.

Pos  Driver                Team/Car                     Time     Gap
 1.  Matt Kenseth          Roush Fenway Ford            46.781s
 2.  Ryan Newman           Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       46.789s  + 0.008s
 3.  Kasey Kahne           Hendrick Chevrolet           46.804s  + 0.023s
 4.  Greg Biffle           Roush Fenway Ford            46.841s  + 0.060s
 5.  Jeff Gordon           Hendrick Chevrolet           46.860s  + 0.079s
 6.  Bill Elliott          Turner Chevrolet             46.872s  + 0.091s
 7.  Casey Mears           Germain Ford                 46.891s  + 0.110s
 8.  AJ Allmendinger       Penske Dodge                 46.901s  + 0.120s
 9.  Brad Keselowski       Penske Dodge                 46.910s  + 0.129s
10.  Marcos Ambrose        Petty Ford                   46.918s  + 0.137s
11.  Kevin Harvick         Childress Chevrolet          46.924s  + 0.143s
12.  Carl Edwards          Roush Fenway Ford            46.946s  + 0.165s
13.  Paul Menard           Childress Chevrolet          46.953s  + 0.172s
14.  Juan Pablo Montoya    Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  46.978s  + 0.197s
15.  Trevor Bayne          Wood Brothers Ford           46.998s  + 0.217s
16.  Jimmie Johnson        Hendrick Chevrolet           47.003s  + 0.222s
17.  Aric Almirola         Petty Ford                   47.054s  + 0.273s
18.  Martin Truex Jr       Waltrip Toyota               47.060s  + 0.279s
19.  Joey Logano           Gibbs Toyota                 47.064s  + 0.283s
20.  Jeff Burton           Childress Chevrolet          47.097s  + 0.316s
21.  Mike Bliss            Parsons Ford                 47.124s  + 0.343s
22.  Kyle Busch            Gibbs Toyota                 47.134s  + 0.353s
23.  Denny Hamlin          Gibbs Toyota                 47.140s  + 0.359s
24.  Dale Earnhardt Jr     Hendrick Chevrolet           47.158s  + 0.377s
25.  Regan Smith           Furniture Row Chevrolet      47.190s  + 0.409s
26.  David Stremme         Inception Toyota             47.203s  + 0.422s
27.  David Ragan           Front Row Ford               47.215s  + 0.434s
28.  Michael Waltrip       Waltrip Toyota               47.220s  + 0.439s
29.  Clint Bowyer          Waltrip Toyota               47.230s  + 0.449s
30.  Jamie McMurray        Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  47.231s  + 0.450s
31.  Josh Wise             Front Row Ford               47.325s  + 0.544s
32.  David Gilliland       Front Row Ford               47.335s  + 0.554s
33.  Dave Blaney           Baldwin Chevrolet            47.339s  + 0.558s
34.  Terry Labonte         FAS Lane Ford                47.357s  + 0.576s
35.  Kurt Busch            Phoenix Chevrolet            47.370s  + 0.589s
36.  Joe Nemechek          NEMCO Toyota                 47.450s  + 0.669s
37.  Stephen Leicht        Circle Sport Chevrolet       47.690s  + 0.909s
38.  Landon Cassill        BK Toyota                    47.699s  + 0.918s
39.  David Reutimann       Baldwin Chevrolet            47.733s  + 0.952s
40.  Travis Kvapil         BK Toyota                    47.888s  + 1.107s
41.  Bobby Labonte         JTG Daugherty Toyota         48.256s  + 1.475s
42.  Tony Stewart          Stewart-Haas Chevrolet
43.  JJ Yeley              Robinson-Blakeney Toyota     48.123s  + 1.342s

Did not qualify:

     Robert Richardson Jr  R3 Toyota                    48.171s  + 1.390s