Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
In one of the more tense qualifying sessions of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, Matt Kenseth earned his first pole of the year.
Changing track conditions proved to be tricky for several drivers as a few found themselves sliding up into the wall during qualifying including Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Clint Bowyer who qualified 18th and 31st respectively. Kenseth, however, was able to keep his car stuck to the bottom in the turns to claim the pole.
Kenseth ran a fast lap in round three of qualifying of 28.311 seconds, earning him the pole over teammate Kyle Busch by just one one-thousandth of a second.
Carl Edwards joins his two Joe Gibbs Racing teammates in the top-five with a third-place qualifying effort.
Rounding out the top-five were Martin Truex, Jr. and Chase spoiler Alex Bowman.
Defending Hollywood Casino 400 winner at Kansas Speedway Joey Logano qualified sixth followed by Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Newman and A.J. Allmendinger.
The remaining Chase drivers qualified just outside the top-10 starting with Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon and Chase Elliott in 11th, 12th and 13th. Kurt Busch wound up 15th, and Charlotte Motor Speedway winner Jimmie Johnson in 21st.
