Kenseth leads Toyota lock-out at Kansas

Matt Kenseth will start from pole position at Kansas Speedway as Toyota swept the first two rows in qualifying.

Kenseth will share the front row with Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Kyle Busch, with another JGR Toyota in Carl Edwards starting third while Martin Truex Jr. will also start on Row 2.

“I didn’t think we were going to make it,” said Kenseth.

“Wasn’t sure we had enough to knock Kyle (Busch) off there but great work by the team to give us a fast car. We’ll work a little bit Saturday in practice and see what we have on Sunday.”

Nine of the 12 cars in the final round of qualifying were all Chase contenders with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s substitute Alex Bowman putting his Chevrolet in fifth, with Ryan Newman and AJ Allmendinger set to start from ninth and 10th.

Chase contenders Chase Elliott (13th), Kurt Busch (15th) and Jimmie Johnson (21st) missed the final round of qualifying. Johnson is already locked into the next stage of the Chase after his win last weekend at Charlotte.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. brought out the caution in the opening round when he scraped the wall.

It is Kenseth’s first pole of the 2016 season, second at Kansas and 18th of his career.

 

QUALIFYING: Hollywood Casino 400 – Kansas Speedway

POS.	CAR #	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	MPH	TIME	GAP
1	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	DeWalt Flexvolt	192.089	28.112	Leader
2	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M’s Core	192.082	28.113	–0.001
3	19	Carl Edwards	Toyota	XFINITY	191.015	28.270	–0.158
4	78	Martin Truex Jr	Toyota	Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats	190.786	28.304	–0.192
5	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	Nationwide	190.315	28.374	–0.262
6	22	Joey Logano	Ford	Shell Pennzoil	190.221	28.388	–0.276
7	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Express	190.188	28.393	–0.281
8	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	Miller Lite	190.087	28.408	–0.296
9	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	189.927	28.432	–0.320
10	47	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	Dillons	189.840	28.445	–0.333
11	4	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Outback Chevrolet SS	189.580	28.484	–0.372
12	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	Dow Coating Materials	189.567	28.486	–0.374
13	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	SunEnergy1	189.954	28.428	–0.316
14	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Code 3 Assoc. / Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS	189.940	28.430	–0.318
15	41	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	Monster Energy / Haas Automation Chevrolet SS	189.773	28.455	–0.343
16	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	FVP / Menards	189.760	28.457	–0.345
17	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center	189.540	28.490	–0.378
18	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Ford	Fastenal Ford Fusion	189.387	28.513	–0.401
19	10	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	Nature’s Bakery Chevrolet SS	189.241	28.535	–0.423
20	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	Farmers Insurance	189.201	28.541	–0.429
21	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe’s	188.976	28.575	–0.463
22	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	Ford Pass	188.930	28.582	–0.470
23	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	CESSNA	188.094	28.709	–0.597
24	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	Target	186.034	29.027	–0.915
25	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	Advocare Ford Fusion	188.376	28.666	–0.554
26	7	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	Fire Alarm Services, Inc Chevrolet	187.669	28.774	–0.662
27	83	Matt DiBenedetto	Toyota	Scorpyd	187.578	28.788	–0.676
28	23	David Ragan	Toyota	Dr. Pepper	187.513	28.798	–0.686
29	13	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	GEICO	187.441	28.809	–0.697
30	34	Chris Buescher	Ford	Love’s Travel Stops	187.331	28.826	–0.714
31	15	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	5-Hour Energy	187.246	28.839	–0.727
32	44	Brian Scott	Ford	GoBowling Ford	186.819	28.905	–0.793
33	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	Thrivent Financial	186.419	28.967	–0.855
34	38	Landon Cassill	Ford	Snap Fitness	185.052	29.181	–1.069
35	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	Smithfield	184.824	29.217	–1.105
36	55	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	TBD	183.163	29.482	–1.370
37	46	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	Northland Oil	181.898	29.687	–1.575
38	32	Joey Gase	Ford	Midwest Transplant Network	180.560	29.907	–1.795
39	98	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	Harrahs North Kansas City	180.403	29.933	–1.821
40	30	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	Curtis Key Plumbing	179.850	30.025	–1.913