Proving his success at Lowe's Motor Speedway was no fluke, Kasey Kahne was the best of the best in Friday afternoon's qualifying session at Pocono Raceway. Kahne will lead the field to the green for Sunday's Pocono 500 after laying down a lap of 52.873 seconds at 170.219 mph.

"To me, when you qualify good at this racetrack, you race pretty well," Kahne explained. "Track position will be big, and we're starting up front."

Kahne, who was fastest in practice, will have Hendrick Motorsports' Jimmie Johnson starting on his outside. Johnson laid down a lap of 169.856 mph for a time of 52.986 seconds. The driver of the Lowe's Chevrolet Impala SS was third fastest in practice and was the first driver to roll off to take time around the 2.5-mile track.

"I don't know if it was an advantage or disadvantage to going out first," Johnson said of his qualifying draw. "Typically it's a disadvantage. We had a great car in practice, so I expected a good qualifying effort. So we'll just have to see how things unfold. But this Lowe's Impala has been strong the entire time we've been here and I got a good lap right there."

Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s Mark Martin will start the day from the third spot and will be going for his first career win at Pocono. Despite having no wins in Long Pond, Martin holds the record for top-5 finishes with nineteen.

"It was a very good lap," Martin said, "I want to thank Tony Gibson and everybody at DEI for building great race cars. It's a privilege to drive stuff like this and I just want to thank them. I love driving fast race cars and I love this race track."

Martin's DEI teammate and Rookie of the Year contender Regan Smith will start fourth on Sunday after posting a career-best run.

The fastest of the go-or-go-home drivers was Joe Nemechek in his No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet. "Front Row" Joe couldn't quite live up to his nickname, but was pretty close as the Florida-native rounded out the top-5.