Matt Kenseth captured his second NASCAR Nationwide Series pole at Texas Motor Speedway for Saturday's O'Reilly Challenge.
Kenseth turned a lap of 28.846 seconds, 187.201 mph to earn the 16th pole of his career. He will be joined by teammate David Ragan on the front row, giving Roush Fenway Racing its second one-two start in a month, following the one a few weeks ago at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Jason Leffler, Kasey Kahne and Kevin Harvick round out the top five.
"It was good, it was wide open," Leffler said of his qualifying run. "The Arrington engine, Toyota engine made a lot of power and it ran really good and it showed here. The car is good and stable in race trim so I'm looking forward to the race tomorrow."
Leffler is the only one in the top five who is within the top five in points, and eligible to be honored at the post-season banquet.
Series points leader, Kyle Busch, who is running in all three NASCAR races at Texas this weekend, took the sixth starting spot.
Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards, Brian Vickers and Mike Bliss all qualified in the top 10.
Vickers felt like the car was a little loose during his qualifying run.
"The package we're running is going to be good for the race but it’s definitely not very conducive to these conditions," Vickers said. "The track's really fast, the loads pick up and you're trying to run around here wide open. I think we'll be good in the race. Qualifying during the day definitely would have been better for us, but it's still a decent run."
Qualifying ran a little longer than anticipated due to a crash early in the session by Robert Richardson Jr.
Jeff Burton also suffered a crash during NASCAR Sprint Cup Series during the day that sidelined his Nationwide effort. Casey Mears is replacing him in the No. 29 Chevrolet.
Casey Atwood, Mike Harmon and Andy Ponstein all failed to qualify for the race.
The O'Reilly Challenge is set for Saturday at Noon (ET) and will be broadcast on ESPN2 and PRN.
