Kenseth's pole run eases Edwards' Sunday start

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Matt Kenseth did his teammate a favor.

In winning the pole for Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, Kenseth -- the next-to-last driver to make a qualifying attempt on Saturday -- moved Roush Fenway Racing teammate Carl Edwards from eighth to ninth in the starting order.

That's a boon to Chase leader Edwards, who will start on the much more manageable inside row, whereas Tony Stewart, three points behind Edwards in the series standings, will start eighth, but on the outside where the grip is tenuous at best.

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"Yeah, I planned that -- I'm that good," Kenseth joked. "I had no idea where Carl qualified. I have enough problems to worry about without having to worry about his. The bottom's certainly going to be an advantage when we get started, but it's still 300 [laps]. I think, at some point in the race, every car's going to be in the top groove for a little bit."

Kenseth toured the repaved, reconfigured 1-mile track in 26.258 seconds (137.101 mph) to edge A.J. Allmendinger (136.446 mph) for the Coors Light Pole Award, Kenseth's third of the season and the seventh of his career.

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Marcos Ambrose (136.307 mph), Allmendinger's teammate at Richard Petty Motorsports, qualified third, followed by Mark Martin and Martin Truex Jr., who ran identical speeds (136.080 mph).

Conditions for qualifying were radically different from practice sessions a day earlier. On Friday, under a cloudy sky, most of the field ran faster than Edwards' qualifying record of 137.279 mph, set in February.

With the sun out Saturday, and the track considerably hotter, drivers ran roughly a full second slower on average than they had Friday, and none bettered Edwards' record.

Allmendinger was shocked at how much the track changed from one day to the next.

"It was definitely a huge surprise," he said. "Obviously, the sun is out and it's warmer, but for as much grip as the track had [Friday], you would think maybe it would be [just] a little slower. At night last night I think the quick time was like a 25.50 by Carl, so to be almost a second slower was a huge surprise.

"I was in the hauler watching the first 10 or 15 cars run, and you see Jimmie [Johnson] go sailing off and almost get in the wall. Every car seemed to get looser and looser. At that point you have what you have. We tightened it up from [Friday]. Marcos put up a good lap and fed back what the track was like, so I went in there with an expectation, and my first lap was worse than even I expected. It was definitely a lot different than [Friday]."