LONG POND - Since the Pocono International Raceway repave was completed in 2012 one thing has been constant with the race track and that's been speed.

Friday afternoon's three round qualifying session reiterated that as 11 of the top 12 qualifiers broke the previous qualifying record (181.415 mph) set by Denny Hamlin in the June race. It was the 15th time a track qualifying record has been broken this season.Coming away with the Coors Light pole award was the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, rookie Kyle Larson. It was Larson's first career Sprint Cup pole, earning the top spot with a lap speed of 183.438 mph.Larson ran in the top two for the first two qualifying sessions, besting Joey Logano in the third and final session. Logano, who was the fastest driver in the first two sessions finished the day with a runner-up speed of 183.408 mph."I thought it would be Joey (Logano) too. Those PENSKE cars are fast every weekend," said Larson. "To get a pole here feels great at a place like the"tricky triangle," there really is no place like it. It's difficult here, so I'm glad I could get my first career pole at a place like this. Hopefully we can get our first career win this weekend too."Larson will get plenty of laps on the track before the race on Sunday as he will be running in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race tomorrow at 1 p.m. Larson also won the ARCA race here in June and finished fifth in the Sprint Cup race, which means all signs point to a successful Sunday for Larson."I think anytime you can get laps around here at Pocono it helps," said Larson. "It really helps with your rhythm and things. We've been fast in every car I've run here so far, so that helps my confidence a lot going into the Sprint Cup race on Sunday."Fan favorite and winner of the June race at Pocono, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start alongside Danica Patrick in the ninth position. His Hendrick teammate Jimmie Johnson struggled to find speed on the afternoon and was eliminated after the second session. Actually, Johnson barely got out of the first session, coming across the line 23rd fastest."The car is slow. We're getting there, we're getting better," said Johnson. "Unfortunately, we didn't make it to that next round, but there is still a practice session tomorrow and then the race on Sunday. We didn't have a lot of speed in qualifying in the June race, but we raced just fine. Clearly, we wish we were faster, but that's just how it is."Other Hendrick drivers Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne qualified fifth and 12th respectively. Gordon, who has won six times at Pocono in his career is coming off a big win at the "Brickyard" (Indianapolis Motor Speedway) last Sunday and is always considered a favorite to win at Pocono.As noted by Larson, PENSKE teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowksi have been strong in qualifying throughout the season. Keselowski posted his third top 10 start at Pocono in his career, qualifying third for Sunday's race. It is the 16th time in 21 races this season that he has done so. Logano's runner-up performance is his 17th top 10 start of the season and his fifth in just 12 career races at Pocono."My car is really fast and I felt like it was going to be as soon as we unloaded today," said Logano. "We were loose, but still fast and I knew we could tighten it up and get some of that speed back. We've made the final qualifying session at every track this season except for the super speedways, so that's really something to be proud of. We have two fast race cars for the race on Sunday."Roush/Fenway Racing announced this week that Carl Edwards would not be returning to the team. Whether or not that's a cause for Edward's struggles today is yet to be seen, but the driver certainly had a rough go of it in qualifying. Edwards made contact with the wall coming out of turn one in the first session and then got into the grass on his reentry to pit lane. Teammate Greg Biffle also did not make it past the first qualifying session, while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the only Roush/Fenway driver to advance past the first session. He qualified 23rd overall.Other notable drivers that qualified outside the top 12 were Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, and Matt Kenseth.