The Roush Fenway Racing driver confirmed the recent upturn in his qualifying form by posting a fastest lap of 29.469 seconds at an average speed of 183.243 mph, which bumped his team-mate Greg Biffle from pole and then held up as the benchmark for the rest of the session.
Kenseth, who starts the Chase from fourth place as the top ranked Ford driver, has now qualified among the top 10 nine times this season but most encouragingly, his last six top-10 starts have resulted in equally solid finishes.
"That was a great lap," Kenseth said. "Yesterday I really liked our car in qualifying trim. We had a pretty good lap there and for me to qualify this good, you know my car is pretty fast. We need to get a little bit more for [the race] but our car drove great today."
Richard Childress Racing's Paul Menard will start beside Kenseth from the front row, while behind them four Chase contenders will line up with Penske's Kurt Busch, Stewart Haas' Ryan Newman, Roush's Carl Edwards and the second Penske of Brad Keselowski completing the first three rows of the grid.
Biffle ended up seventh, followed by Red Bull's Brian Vickers, with Chase leader Kyle Busch and his Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Joey Logano rounding out the top 10.
Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson will line up 12th as the best from the Hendrick Motorsports camp while RCR's Kevin Harvick was the lowest Chase qualifier, setting the 30th fastest time.
Wood Brothers' Trevor Bayne was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 28th. Travis Kvapil, David Starr, Stephen Leicht and Mike Skinner failed to make the field.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Ford 29.469s 2. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet 29.488s + 0.019s 3. Kurt Busch Penske Dodge 29.503s + 0.034s 4. Ryan Newman Stewart Haas Chevrolet 29.507s + 0.038s 5. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford 29.522s + 0.053s 6. Brad Keselowski Penske Dodge 29.531s + 0.062s 7. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 29.565s + 0.096s 8. Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota 29.575s + 0.106s 9. Kyle Busch Gibbs Toyota 29.615s + 0.146s 10. Joey Logano Gibbs Toyota 29.620s + 0.151s 11. Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Toyota 29.634s + 0.165s 12. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet 29.667s + 0.198s 13. Regan Smith Furniture Row Chevrolet 29.690s + 0.221s 14. Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 29.696s + 0.227s 15. David Ragan Roush Fenway Ford 29.729s + 0.260s 16. Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 29.752s + 0.283s 17. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 29.752s + 0.283s 18. AJ Allmendinger Petty Ford 29.767s + 0.298s 19. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet 29.784s + 0.315s 20. Martin Truex Jr Waltrip Toyota 29.787s + 0.318s 21. Clint Bowyer Childress Chevrolet 29.790s + 0.321s 22. Jeff Burton Childress Chevrolet 29.790s + 0.321s 23. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 29.807s + 0.338s 24. Kasey Kahne Red Bull Toyota 29.812s + 0.343s 25. Mark Martin Hendrick Chevrolet 29.822s + 0.353s 26. Tony Stewart Stewart Haas Chevrolet 29.828s + 0.359s 27. Denny Hamlin Gibbs Toyota 29.879s + 0.410s 28. Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Ford 29.894s + 0.425s 29. David Reutimann Waltrip Toyota 29.900s + 0.431s 30. Kevin Harvick Childress Chevrolet 29.913s + 0.444s 31. Landon Cassill Phoenix Chevrolet 29.973s + 0.504s 32. JJ Yeley Front Row Ford 29.980s + 0.511s 33. Michael McDowell HP Toyota 29.990s + 0.521s 34. David Stremme Inception Chevrolet 29.991s + 0.522s 35. Scott Speed Whitney Ford 30.000s + 0.531s 36. Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota 30.016s + 0.547s 37. Robby Gordon Gordon Dodge 30.039s + 0.570s 38. David Gilliland Front Row Ford 30.196s + 0.727s 39. Dave Blaney Baldwin Chevrolet 30.228s + 0.759s 40. Andy Lally TRG Chevrolet 30.238s + 0.769s 41. Casey Mears Germain Toyota 30.262s + 0.793s 42. Mike Bliss FAS Lane Ford 30.313s + 0.844s 43. Josh Wise Max Q Ford 30.136s + 0.667s Did not qualify: Travis Kvapil Front Row Ford 30.140s + 0.671s David Starr Leavine Ford 30.214s + 0.745s Stephen Leicht Baldwin Chevrolet 30.310s + 0.841s Mike Skinner Germain Chevrolet 30.592s + 1.123s
