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Over the course of his championship winning NASCAR career, Matt Kenseth has built quite the reputation for success -- it just doesn't normally happen in qualifying.

Prior to this season, Kenseth only had 13 pole position starts to his credit but this year has been a completely different story. Kenseth notched his third pole of the 2015 Sprint Cup season in qualifying for Sunday's Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway. 

Kenseth's lap of 36.458 seconds at an average speed of 197.488 mph gave him the top spot over his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, who were also his biggest opponents in qualifying.

Kenseth gave his No. 20 team all the credit for his qualifying success.

"We were a little bit off of our teammates, a pretty good chunk off of Carl," Kenseth said. "Really, Jason (Radcliff) and that whole group deserve all the credit. They gave me a car that drove good and had a lot more speed in qualifying than it did in practice. They did a better job than me today, they gave me the car to get it done. I was glad I was able get a good enough lap to put it on the pole.."

Kenseth's pole winning lap edged out Denny Hamlin's lap of 36.550 seconds at 196.990 mph. The second starting spot will mark the 10th time which Hamlin has rolled off in the top ten this season.

While Hamlin fell short of winning the pole, Hamlin couldn't help but notice the momentum which JGR as a team has right now.

"Good day for JGR, obviously," Hamlin said. "We've got fast cars and TRD has really stepped up and given us some great horsepower over the last year or so. Really proud of the effort, I wish I could say my role played a little more in this, but obviously with all of our cars up there in the top six it's pretty much just a sign that our organization is turning some heads right now."

Hamlin was followed by Carl Edwards in third, who laid down a fast lap of 36.683 seconds at 196.276 mph.

Austin Dillon managed to break up JGR's stranglehold on the race's top spots by taking the fourth spot followed by fellow Chevrolet driver Tony Stewart in fifth place.

Kyle Busch joined his JGR teammates in the top ten at sixth followed by Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt, Jr, and Joey Logano rounding out the top ten qualifiers.

Kasey Kahne nabbed the 11th starting spot with Clint Bowyer settling for the 12th position.

Reed Sorenson was the only driver who did not qualify for Sunday's field of 43.

Starting Line Up by Row
Michigan International Speedway
46th Annual Pure Michigan 400 
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Fri, August 14, 2015 @ 07:04 PM Eastern
Driver    Date    Time    Speed
Track Race Record:    Dale Jarrett     06/13/99    02:17:56    173.997
Pos    Car    Driver    Team    Time    Speed
Row 1:    1    20    Matt Kenseth    Dollar General Toyota    36.458    197.488
2    11    Denny Hamlin    FedEx Freight Toyota    36.550    196.990
Row 2:    3    19    Carl Edwards    ARRIS Toyota    36.683    196.276
4    3    Austin Dillon    Dow Chevrolet    36.750    195.918
Row 3:    5    14    Tony Stewart    Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet    36.833    195.477
6    18    Kyle Busch    Interstate Batteries Toyota    36.838    195.450
Row 4:    7    4    Kevin Harvick    Jimmy John's/Budweiser Chevrolet    36.876    195.249
8    48    Jimmie Johnson    Lowe's Chevrolet    36.880    195.228
Row 5:    9    88    Dale Earnhardt Jr.    Microsoft Chevrolet    36.945    194.884
10    22    Joey Logano    Shell Pennzoil Ford    37.036    194.405
Row 6:    11    5    Kasey Kahne    Farmers Insurance Chevrolet    37.088    194.133
12    15    Clint Bowyer    5-Hour Energy Toyota    37.189    193.606
Row 7:    13    55    David Ragan    AaronsDreamMachineOnlineVersion Toyota    37.184    193.632
14    2    Brad Keselowski    Miller Lite Ford    37.199    193.554
Row 8:    15    9    Sam Hornish Jr.    Transportation Impact Ford    37.214    193.476
16    41    Kurt Busch    Haas Automation Chevrolet    37.246    193.309
Row 9:    17    31    Ryan Newman    Caterpillar Chevrolet    37.246    193.309
18    1    Jamie McMurray    Cessna/McDonald's Chevrolet    37.277    193.149
Row 10:    19    21    Ryan Blaney(i)    Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford    37.281    193.128
20    16    Greg Biffle    Ortho Ford    37.300    193.029
Row 11:    21    24    Jeff Gordon    Pepsi Chevrolet    37.304    193.009
22    78    Martin Truex Jr.    Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet    37.321    192.921
Row 12:    23    10    Danica Patrick    GoDaddy Chevrolet    37.350    192.771
24    27    Paul Menard    Richmond/Menards Chevrolet    37.379    192.622
Row 13:    25    6    Trevor Bayne    AdvoCare Ford    37.499    192.005
26    47    AJ Allmendinger    Kroger/Scott Products Chevrolet    37.534    191.826
Row 14:    27    17    Ricky Stenhouse Jr.    Zest Ford    37.581    191.586
28    51    Justin Allgaier    Brandt Chevrolet    37.624    191.367
Row 15:    29    26    Jeb Burton #    Maxim/Estes Toyota    37.753    190.713
30    43    Aric Almirola    Armour Ford    37.790    190.527
Row 16:    31    40    Landon Cassill(i)    Snap Fitness Chevrolet    37.885    190.049
32    83    Matt DiBenedetto #    Cosmo Motors Toyota    37.885    190.049
Row 17:    33    7    Alex Bowman    Advanced Patient Care Chevrolet    38.018    189.384
34    42    Kyle Larson    Target Chevrolet    38.049    189.230
Row 18:    35    35    Cole Whitt    Dockside Logistics LLC Ford    38.077    189.091
36    38    David Gilliland    MDS Transportation Ford    38.110    188.927
Row 19:    37    23    JJ Yeley(i)    Dr Pepper Toyota    Owner Points
38    34    Brett Moffitt #    CSX Play It Safe Ford    Owner Points
Row 20:    39    46    Michael Annett    Pilot Flying J Chevrolet    Owner Points
40    13    Casey Mears    GEICO Chevrolet    Owner Points
Row 21:    41    32    Josh Wise    Skuttle Tight Ford    Owner Points
42    33    Travis Kvapil(i)    Chevrolet    Owner Points
Row 22:    43    98    Timmy Hill(i)    Premium Motorsports Chevrolet    Owner Points
Did Not Qualify:    # 62 Reed Sorenson. 
Manufacturer    Starting Lineup    DNQs    Manufacturer    Starting Lineup    DNQs
Chevrolet    22    0    Toyota    9    0
Ford    12    1
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series