Catchfence

Matt Kenseth wins his first NSCS Coors Light Pole Award of the season at Darlington Raceway with a qualifying speed of 179.514 m.p.h., a new track qualifying record.

Sharing the front row with Kenseth for Saturday night’s Southern 500 is the current series points leader, Jeff Gordon, who ran a qualifying lap speed of 178.861 m.p.h.

Rounding out the top-10 starters are: Ryan Newman (178.757) 3rd, Sam Hornish Jr. (178.744) 4th, Raybestos Rookie contender Joey Logano (178.549) 5th, Jeff Burton (178.510) 6th, Kasey Kahne (178.407) 7th, Kurt Busch (178.400) 8th, Carl Edwards (178.019) 9th and Marcos Ambrose (177.826) will start 10th.

Failing to make the field were: Jeremy Mayfield and Scott Speed.

2009 Southern 500 Starting Lineup

Pos	Car	Driver	Team	Time	Speed
1	17	Matt Kenseth	DEWALT Ford	27.394	179.514
2	24	Jeff Gordon	Dupont / National Guard ESGR Chevrolet	27.494	178.861
3	39	Ryan Newman	US Army Chevrolet	27.51	178.757
4	77	Sam Hornish Jr.	Mobil 1 Dodge	27.512	178.744
5	20	Joey Logano #	The Home Depot Toyota	27.542	178.549
6	31	Jeff Burton	Caterpillar Chevrolet	27.548	178.51
7	9	Kasey Kahne	Budweiser Dodge	27.564	178.407
8	2	Kurt Busch	Miller Lite Dodge	27.565	178.4
9	99	Carl Edwards	Aflac Ford	27.624	178.019
10	47	Marcos Ambrose	B. Bst Bkd Bns / Kingsf./ Clorox Toyota	27.654	177.826
11	16	Greg Biffle	3M Ford	27.682	177.646
12	5	Mark Martin	Cheez-it / CARQUEST Chevrolet	27.736	177.3
13	7	Casey Mears	Jack Daniel's Chevrolet	27.736	177.3
14	18	Kyle Busch	M&M's Toyota	27.777	177.039
15	6	David Ragan	UPS Ford	27.782	177.007
16	1	Martin Truex Jr.	Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Chevrolet	27.797	176.911
17	33	Clint Bowyer	BB&T Chevrolet	27.8	176.892
18	14	Tony Stewart	Old Spice / Office Depot Chevrolet	27.847	176.594
19	19	Elliott Sadler	Stanley Tools Dodge	27.853	176.555
20	26	Jamie McMurray	Crown Royal Ford	27.874	176.422
21	0	David Reutimann	Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota	27.886	176.347
22	13	Max Papis #	GEICO Toyota	27.889	176.328
23	11	Denny Hamlin	Farm Bureau Toyota	27.899	176.264
24	29	Kevin Harvick	Shell / Pennzoil Chevrolet	27.919	176.138
25	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Target Chevrolet	27.933	176.05
26	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Mountain Dew / National Guard Chevrolet	27.944	175.981
27	96	Bobby Labonte	Academy Sports & Outdoors Ford	27.946	175.968
28	7	Robby Gordon	Quaker State Toyota	27.983	175.735
29	78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row Chevrolet	28	175.629
30	71	David Gilliland	TRG Motorsports Chevrolet	28.03	175.441
31	25	Brad Keselowski	GoDaddy.com Chevrolet	28.031	175.434
32	87	Joe Nemechek	Nemco Motorsports Toyota	28.058	175.266
33	66	Dave Blaney	Prism Motorsports Toyota	28.061	175.247
34	12	David Stremme	No. 12 Penske Dodge	28.092	175.053
35	83	Brian Vickers	Red Bull Toyota	28.123	174.86
36	55	Michael Waltrip	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota	28.137	174.773
37	36	Scott Riggs	Tommy Baldwin Racing Toyota	28.145	174.724
38	44	A J Allmendinger	Best Buy Dodge	28.177	174.525
39	34	Tony Raines	A&W Chevrolet	28.287	173.847
40	98	Paul Menard	Schrock / Menards Ford	Owner Points
41	43	Reed Sorenson	Valvoline Crew Chief Car Dodge	Owner Points
42	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe's Chevrolet	Owner Points
43	9	Sterling Marlin	Phoenix Racing Dodge	28.197	174.402