Track:  Phoenix International Raceway, 1-mile oval, Avondale, Arizona
Pole Winner: Matt Kenseth

Pole Time:  26.258 seconds

Pole Speed:  137.101 miles per hour
TV/Radio: ESPN2/MRN/SIRIUSXM

No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford Starting Position: 42nd

No. 38 Vampt Ford Starting Position: 41st
No. 55 Aloft Tempe Ford Starting Position: 37th

The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup visits the Arizona desert this weekend as the series races at the newly configured Phoenix International Raceway.  The repaved track and changes in configuration were expecting to pose challenges to the drivers -- almost like going to a brand new track.  The series scheduled four hours of practice on Friday to help the teams adjust to the new conditions and to try to work in a second groove on the seemingly one-groove track.

Most of those practice laps happened under overcast skies, so a much sunnier day on Saturday made the track even more challenging for qualifying.  J.J. Yeley in the No. 38 Vampt Ford, David Gilliland in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford and Travis Kvapil in the No. 55 Aloft Tempe Ford all battled loose cars making their qualifying runs on the slick track.  Kvapil, the only Front Row entry that had to make the race on speed, was able to do so despite the slippery conditions.

Kvapil will start 37th, Yeley 41st and Gilliland 42nd.  Matt Kenseth will lead the field to the green flag after earning his first career pole at the one-mile oval.  Scott Riggs, David Stremme and Andy Lally failed to qualify.

Coverage of Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 begins at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN.

David Gilliland

Comments from No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team driver David Gilliland after qualifying at Phoenix:
 

J.J. Yeley

Comments from No. 38 Vampt Ford team driver J.J. Yeley after qualifying at Phoenix:
 

"This being the first time that I've been able to go without having to qualify on speed, I was really conservative.  The car was really, really loose on top of the racetrack. But I know it's better to be able to have a poor qualifying run, be able to work on it as the race goes on and have a good piece versus do like some of the other guys did and go out and wreck the car and really be in a pickle for tomorrow.

"We're still pretty good.  I think in race trim, we weren't bad.  Just missing a little bit of something.  Obviously, we're not going to have track position on our side because of our qualifying effort.  But, nonetheless, we're going to go give it our best effort in our Vampt Ford Fusion."

Travis Kvapil

Comments from No. 55 Aloft Tempe Ford team driver Travis Kvapil after qualifying at Phoenix:
 

"It's a whole different racetrack than yesterday.  Even at noon in practice yesterday, the track had a lot more grip.  I guess it's just a little bit warmer and greasier, obviously, because that's the slowest lap we ran all weekend.  It was really slippery in the back end of the car, but we squeaked it in, so I'm happy.  We worked hard on it yesterday."

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