LAS VEGAS, Nev. (March 4, 2011) — Matt Kenseth capped off a strong day for Roush Fenway by capturing the pole for Sunday’s Sprint Cup Race at the 1.5-mile oval. Kenseth covered Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 28.589 seconds (188.88 mph) to lead three Roush Fenway Fords that qualified in the top five for Sunday’s race. Carl Edwards qualified third and Greg Biffle was fourth. Ford occupied the first four positions in the effort. David Ragan had a fast car in practice, but spun out during the session. He was able to save the car, but had taken the green flag and will start 42nd on Sunday.
“It feels great,” said Kenseth. “Qualifying is not my strong suit but I knew we had a really fast car today when we did our last qualifying run. Honestly this is the most nervous I have been before qualifying in probably five years at least because I knew we had a shot at the pole and I knew last week we really messed up. I didn’t want to mess up a fast car today, so I was really happy with that.”
Roush Fenway has won six times in the Sprint Cup Series at Las Vegas, but this is just the second pole for the team at LVMS. It is Kenseth’s first pole at LVMS and the fifth of his Sprint Cup career. Kenseth will look for his third career win at Las Vegas; he won back to back races there in 2003 and 2004.
Sunday’s race is slated for 3:00 p.m. EST and will televised live on FOX.
