Catchfence

Matt Kenseth, with a qualifying lap speed of 137.101 mph (which failed to break Carl Edwards’ qualifying record speed of 137.279 mph, set back in Feb.) captured the NSCS Kobalt Tools 500(k) Coors Light Pole Award at Phoenix International Raceway.

This was Kenseth’s third series pole of the 2011 season, his seventh series career pole and his first series pole at Phoenix International Raceway.

Sharing the front row with Kenseth and starting in second with a qualifying lap speed of 136.446 mph, will be AJ Allmendinger, and they will be followed by Marcos Ambrose (136.307) who will start third, while both Mark Martin and Martin Truex, Jr., with the identical lap speed of  136.080 mph, will start fourth and fifth respectively.

Rounding out the top-ten starting positions will be Jamie McMurray (136.008 mph) starting from sixth, David Reutimann (135.988) seventh, Tony Stewart (135.911) eighth, Carl Edwards (135.701) ninth and Kasey Kahne (135.675) will start from the tenth position.

Failing to make the starting lineup were the #23 driven by Scott Riggs; the #30 driven by David Stremme and the #71 driven by Andy Lally.

The Kobalt Tools 500(k) is scheduled to get underway around 3:20 PM (ET) Sunday afternoon, and ESPN will begin their (pre-race) television coverage at 2:00 PM (ET).

2011 NSCS Kobalt Tools 500(k) Starting Lineup

Pos	Car	Driver	Team	Time	Speed
1	17	Matt Kenseth	Crown Royal Ford	26.258	137.101
2	43	A J Allmendinger	WIX Filters Ford	26.384	136.446
3	9	Marcos Ambrose	DeWalt Ford	26.411	136.307
4	5	Mark Martin	GoDaddy.com Chevrolet	26.455	136.08
5	56	Martin Truex Jr.	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota	26.455	136.08
6	1	Jamie McMurray	McDonald's Chevrolet	26.469	136.008
7	0	David Reutimann	TUMS Toyota	26.473	135.988
8	14	Tony Stewart	Mobil 1 / Office Depot Chevrolet	26.488	135.911
9	99	Carl Edwards	Aflac Ford	26.529	135.701
10	4	Kasey Kahne	Red Bull Toyota	26.534	135.675
11	27	Paul Menard	Peak / Menards Chevrolet	26.547	135.609
12	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Dodge	26.585	135.415
13	6	David Ragan	UPS My Choice Ford	26.588	135.399
14	31	Jeff Burton	Caterpillar Global Mining Chevrolet	26.608	135.298
15	78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet	26.613	135.272
16	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe's / Kobalt Tools Chevrolet	26.618	135.247
17	22	Kurt Busch	Shell Pennzoil Dodge	26.622	135.227
18	83	Brian Vickers	Red Bull Toyota	26.624	135.216
19	84	Cole Whitt(i)	Red Bull Racing Toyota	26.625	135.211
20	7	Robby Gordon	SPEED Energy / MAPEI Dodge	26.63	135.186
21	51	Landon Cassill(i)	Phoenix Construction Chevrolet	26.631	135.181
22	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Retro Diet Mt. Dew / National Guard Chevrolet	26.634	135.166
23	24	Jeff Gordon	DuPont Chevrolet	26.689	134.887
24	46	Scott Speed(i)	Green Stuff Absorbent Ford	26.694	134.862
25	20	Joey Logano	The Home Depot Toyota	26.696	134.852
26	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Target Chevrolet	26.704	134.811
27	29	Kevin Harvick	Budweiser Chevrolet	26.715	134.756
28	33	Clint Bowyer	USO / Cheerios / Hamburger Helper Chevrolet	26.751	134.574
29	16	Greg Biffle	3M / Meguiar's Ford	26.756	134.549
30	39	Ryan Newman	U.S. Army Veterans Day Chevrolet	26.764	134.509
31	47	Bobby Labonte	Wounded Warrior / Clorox / Kleenex Toyota	26.793	134.363
32	87	Joe Nemechek(i)	AM FM Energy Pellet & Wood Stoves Toyota	26.837	134.143
33	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Freight Toyota	26.85	134.078
34	18	Kyle Busch	Interstate Batteries Toyota	26.936	133.65
35	66	Michael McDowell	HP Racing Toyota	26.979	133.437
36	37	Mike Skinner(i)	MaxQ Motorsports Ford	27.023	133.22
37	55	Travis Kvapil(i)	Aloft Hotels Ford	27.04	133.136
38	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Toyota	27.062	133.028
39	32	Mike Bliss(i)	Veterans United Home Loans Ford	27.184	132.431
40	36	Geoffrey Bodine	Luke & Associates Inc. Chevrolet	Owner Points
41	38	J J Yeley	Vampt Ford	Owner Points
42	34	David Gilliland	Aloft Hotels Ford	Owner Points
43	35	Dave Blaney	Golden Corral Chevrolet	27.157	132.563

(i) Ineligible for Points in this Series
# Denotes Rookie
* Required to Qualify on Time