Kenseth takes Texas Nationwide pole

Matt Kenseth will start on the pole for Saturday's O'Reilly Challenge after turning in the quickest lap in qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway.

Kenseth lapped the 1.5-mile oval at 187.201 m.p.h. (28.846 seconds) for his second pole of the season and the 16th of his Nationwide career. His first pole here came in 2001.

"[The car] always has a lot of speed, so hopefully it will handle like we need it to for 300 miles tomorrow," Kenseth said.

Kenseth is a two-time Nationwide race winner at Texas (2004 and '07).

His teammate David Ragan qualified on the outside pole at 186.548 m.p.h., giving Roush Fenway Racing the front starting row.

Jason Leffler took the third spot, while Kasey Kahne and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-five.

Kyle Busch will start sixth in his attempt to win four straight races at Texas. Busch holds a 215-point lead over Carl Edwards with three races to go.

Starting seventh through 10th will be Brad Keselowski, Edwards, Brian Vickers and Mike Bliss.

Casey Atwood, Mike Harmon and Andy Ponstein failed to qualify. Ponstein wrecked during his warm up lap and did not post a time. Robert Richardson Jr. also crashed, but had already made one qualifying lap to get in the show.

Jeff Burton originally was scheduled to compete in the 300-mile race, but Burton slammed the wall hard during the only Sprint Cup practice on Friday. Team owner Richard Childress made the decision to replace Burton with Casey Mears in the No.29 Chevrolet. Mears will start 14th.

Burton, who did not sustain any injuries from the crash, is expected to compete in Sunday's 500-mile race.

Saturday's Nationwide race is scheduled to begin around 12:45 p.m. (et).

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