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Roush Fenway’s Kenseth Scores Career-High 3rd Pole at Phoenix
RFR wins team-high 10th Sprint Cup pole of season; Sprint Cup point leader Edwards to start Ninth
AVONDALE, Ariz. (Nov. 12, 2011) –Matt Kenseth earned Roush Fenway’s team-high 10th Sprint Cup pole of the season, turning a lap of 26.26 seconds (137.101 mph) around the 1-mile low banked tri-oval of Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday to score his career-high third Sprint Cup pole of the season.
“It was a good lap,” said Kenseth, who is fourth in the Sprint Cup points. “We watched everyone else and obviously there were a lot of people low on grip and it looked like the track and cars were a lot looser than yesterday. Everyone had a different strategy.
“(Crew Chief) Jimmy (Fennig) had a strategy to go fast in the first practice to go out late. Even though we knew the temperature would be hotter he thought the track could be faster with more cars having run on it. A lot of people chose the opposite strategy and worked on race setup in the first practice and did their qualifying stuff in the second practice to go out early. I didn’t get all there was to get out of the car. It was just that good. They made all the right choices there.”
Roush Fenway’s Carl Edwards, who currently leads the Sprint Cup point standings, will start ninth - one spot behind second-place Tony Stewart, but on the more coveted inside row. David Ragan qualified 13th for the race, with teammate Greg Biffle qualifying 29th.
It was RFR’s fourth Sprint Cup pole at Phoenix and its ninth NASCAR pole at PIR. Roush Fenway is looking for its historic 300th NASCAR victory this weekend at Phoenix.
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