Texas NASCAR: Tony Stewart surges to pole position

The three-time series champion reached 195.454mph (27.628s) around the 1.5-mile quad-oval in the dying moments of the session and demoted Brad Keselowski to second place in doing so.

Kevin Harvick was unable to make it an all Stewart-Haas front row, but he did set the fastest ever qualifying lap at the venue when he achieved 198.282mph (27.234s) in the first round of the session.

An in-form Greg Biffle claimed fourth, ahead of his Roush Fenway team-mate Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin, while 2011 Daytona 500 victor Trevor Bayne lines up seventh.

Joey Logano maintained his record of particpating in every final round of qualifying this season and starts 10th, while Martinsville winner Kurt Busch claimed 11th, although he will start from the rear of the field after using his back-up car following a Friday practice crash.

Jimmie Johnson failed to advance to the 12-car shootout for pole for the first time this year and the reigning champion could do no better than 16th, his worst Texas start since 17th in 2010.

Elsewhere, Dave Blaney qualified well by grabbing 35th and makes his first Sprint Cup race start of the season in the Humphry Ford.

Pos  Driver             Team/Car                 Time     Gap    
 1.  Tony Stewart       Stewart-Haas Chevrolet   27.628s             
 2.  Brad Keselowski    Penske Ford              27.636s  +0.008s    
 3.  Kevin Harvick      Stewart-Haas Chevrolet   27.648s  +0.020s    
 4.  Greg Biffle        Roush Fenway Ford        27.735s  +0.107s    
 5.  Carl Edwards       Roush Fenway Ford        27.744s  +0.116s    
 6.  Denny Hamlin       Joe Gibbs Toyota         27.746s  +0.118s    
 7.  Trevor Bayne       Wood Brothers Ford       27.763s  +0.135s    
 8.  Ryan Newman        Childress Chevrolet      27.815s  +0.187s    
 9.  Marcos Ambrose     Petty Ford               27.826s  +0.198s    
10.  Joey Logano        Penske Ford              27.872s  +0.244s    
11.  Kurt Busch         Stewart-Haas Chevrolet   27.961s  +0.333s    
12.  Jeff Gordon        Hendrick Chevrolet       28.113s  +0.485s    
13.  Paul Menard        Childress Chevrolet               Q2         
14.  Kyle Larson        Ganassi Chevrolet                 Q2         
15.  Jamie McMurray     Ganassi Chevrolet                 Q2         
16.  Jimmie Johnson     Hendrick Chevrolet                Q2         
17.  Aric Almirola      Petty Ford                        Q2         
18.  Martin Truex Jr    Furniture Row Ford                Q2         
19.  Dale Earnhardt Jr  Hendrick Chevrolet                Q2         
20.  Casey Mears        Germain Chevrolet                 Q2         
21.  Austin Dillon      Childress Chevrolet               Q2         
22.  Justin Allgaier    HScott Chevrolet                  Q2         
23.  Brian Vickers      Waltrip Toyota                    Q2         
24.  Danica Patrick     Stewart-Haas Chevrolet            Q2         
25.  Clint Bowyer       Waltrip Toyota                    Q1         
26.  Matt Kenseth       Joe Gibbs Toyota                  Q1         
27.  Michael Annett     Baldwin Chevrolet                 Q1         
28.  Michael McDowell   Leavine Ford                      Q1         
29.  Kyle Busch         Joe Gibbs Toyota                  Q1         
30.  Alex Bowman        BK Toyota                         Q1         
31.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Fenway Ford                 Q1         
32.  Kasey Kahne        Hendrick Chevrolet                Q1         
33.  AJ Allmendinger    JTG Daugherty Chevrolet           Q1         
34.  David Reutimann    MDS Ford                          Q1         
35.  Dave Blaney        Humphrey Ford                     Q1         
36.  Parker Kligerman   Swan Toyota                       Q1         
37.  Travis Kvapil      Go FAS Ford                       Q1         
38.  Reed Sorenson      Baldwin Chevrolet                 Q1         
39.  David Gilliland    Front Row Ford                    Q1         
40.  Landon Cassill     Hillman Chevrolet                 Q1         
41.  Josh Wise          Parsons Chevrolet                 Q1         
42.  Cole Whitt         Swan Toyota                       Q1         
43.  David Ragan        Front Row Ford                    Q1         
                                                                     
Did not qualify:                                              
                                                                     
     David Stremme	Circle Sport Chevrolet                       
     Ryan Truex	        BK Toyota                                    
     Joe Nemechek	NEMCO Toyota                                 
     JJ Yeley	        Cohen Chevrolet