Juan Pablo Montoya driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet qualified on the pole for the Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. It is his first pole of the 2012 racing season. It also guarantees him a spot in next seasons Daytona Shootout. His lap time was 51.124.
Montoya has four top tens and one top five in his career at Pocono. He has never won at an oval, but track position means a lot at this race track so starting on the pole only helps and maybe it will be Montoya in victory lane. He currently sits 21st in points.
Denny Hamlin qualified second, followed by Paul Menard, Kasey Khane and Marcus Ambrose.
Starting Grid for tomorrows Pennsylvania 400:
| 1 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Target | 176.043 | 51.124 | Leader | |
| 2 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Ground | 175.795 | 51.196 | -0.072 | |
| 3 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Menards / Serta | 175.627 | 51.245 | -0.121 | |
| 4 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | Farmers Insurance | 175.439 | 51.300 | -0.176 | |
| 5 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Stanley | 175.432 | 51.302 | -0.178 | |
| 6 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | Phoenix Construction Services | 175.339 | 51.329 | -0.205 | |
| 7 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Zest | 175.169 | 51.379 | -0.255 | |
| 8 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | Diet Mountain Dew / AMP Energy / National Guard | 175.131 | 51.390 | -0.266 | |
| 9 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Haas Automation / Quicken Loans | 175.097 | 51.400 | -0.276 | |
| 10 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s | 175.067 | 51.409 | -0.285 | |
| 11 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row / Farm American | 175.036 | 51.418 | -0.294 | |
| 12 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M | 174.964 | 51.439 | -0.315 | |
| 13 | Aric Almirola | Ford | Automotive Lift Institute | 174.805 | 51.486 | -0.362 | |
| 14 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 174.795 | 51.489 | -0.365 | |
| 15 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 174.618 | 51.541 | -0.417 | |
| 16 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Allstate | 174.561 | 51.558 | -0.434 | |
| 17 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Fastenal | 174.432 | 51.596 | -0.472 | |
| 18 | Mark Martin | Toyota | Aaron’s Dream Machine | 174.419 | 51.600 | -0.476 | |
| 19 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 5-hour Energy | 174.314 | 51.631 | -0.507 | |
| 20 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | M&M’s | 174.277 | 51.642 | -0.518 | |
| 21 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Budweiser | 174.213 | 51.661 | -0.537 | |
| 22 | Landon Cassill | Toyota | Burger King / Dr Pepper | 174.162 | 51.676 | -0.552 | |
| 23 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Enersys / Odyssey Battery | 173.920 | 51.748 | -0.624 | |
| 24 | David Reutimann | Chevrolet | TMone.com | 173.571 | 51.852 | -0.728 | |
| 25 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 173.524 | 51.866 | -0.742 | |
| 26 | David Gilliland | Ford | ModSpace | 173.410 | 51.900 | -0.776 | |
| 27 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Drive to End Hunger | 173.300 | 51.933 | -0.809 | |
| 28 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Office Depot “Back to School” | 173.197 | 51.964 | -0.840 | |
| 29 | Casey Mears | Ford | GEICO | 172.864 | 52.064 | -0.940 | |
| 30 | Mike Bliss | Toyota | Plinker Tactical | 172.619 | 52.138 | -1.014 | |
| 31 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 172.371 | 52.213 | -1.089 | |
| 32 | David Ragan | Ford | Taco Bell | 172.038 | 52.314 | -1.190 | |
| 33 | Scott Riggs | Chevrolet | North Texas Pipe | 171.917 | 52.351 | -1.227 | |
| 34 | Josh Wise* | Ford | MDS Transport | 171.913 | 52.352 | -1.228 | |
| 35 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | Max Q Motorsports | 171.808 | 52.384 | -1.260 | |
| 36 | David Stremme | Toyota | Inception Motorsports | 171.638 | 52.436 | -1.312 | |
| 37 | Travis Kvapil | Toyota | Burger King / Dr Pepper | 171.246 | 52.556 | -1.432 | |
| 38 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | AM / FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves | 170.804 | 52.692 | -1.568 | |
| 39 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Scott Products | 170.658 | 52.737 | -1.613 | |
| 40 | Reed Sorenson | Ford | Plinker Tactical | 170.581 | 52.761 | -1.637 | |
| 41 | Jason White+ | Ford | Zaxby’s | 167.876 | 53.611 | -2.487 | |
| 42 | Tony Raines+ | Chevrolet | @TMone / CRM Hiring Veterans | – | – | – | |
| 43 | Mike Skinner | Ford | TRAQM.com | 170.516 | 52.781 | -1.657 |
