2012 March Pole Sitter: #55-Mark Martin, 136.815mph, finished 9th

2012 November Pole Sitter: #18-Kyle Busch, 138.766mph, finished 3rd

Track Qualifying Record: Kyle Busch, 11/9/2012, 138.766mph

Oldest Pole Winner: Mark Martin, 53 years, 1 month, 24 days, 3/4/2012

Youngest Pole Winner: Kyle Busch, 20 years, 11 months, 20 days, 4/22/2006

Fastest First Practice Speed: #20-Kenseth, 137.023mph, scheduled to qualify 33rd out of 43 drivers

NOTE: not doing semi-live qualifying anymore. WIth NASCAR.com and FoxSports having realtime qualifying and hits for my qualifying pages way down due to the availabilty of the real-time qualifying found elsewhere, not worth the time.
Will still post my unique qualifying results here, to help explain how drivers make the race.
For Realtime qualifying, check out:
NASCAR.com
FoxSports

Martin wins Phoenix pole: #55-Mark Martin won the pole for the Subway Fresh Fit 500(k) Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway with speed of 138.074mph for his 1st pole of 2013 and 56th of his career. Martin breaks his own record for being the oldest pole sitter at Phoenix (54 years, 1 month, 23 days), Martin won the pole last March at PIR. #5-Kahne will start 2nd, followed by #48-Johnson, #18-Busch, #24-Gordon, #14-Stewart, #29-Harvick, #11-Hamlin, #20-Kenseth (was fastest in practice) and #39-Newman. #10-Partick got loose on her lap and will start 40th. 43 cars/drivers were entered, so no one will miss the race. Six drivers make their first 2013 start: #51-Allmendinger (starts 23rd), #19-Bliss (35th), #30-Stremme (37th), #33-Cassill (38th), #44-Riggs (39th) and #32-Schrader (42nd).(3-1-2013)

Qualifying Fast Facts - Phoenix:
#55-Mark Martin won the Coors Light Pole Award for the 9th Annual SUBWAY Fresh Fit 500 with a lap of 26.073 seconds, 138.074 mph.
This is his 56th pole in 856 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
This is his first pole and first top-10 start in 2013.
This is his third pole in 33 races at Phoenix International Raceway. His last Phoenix pole came in last year's spring race.
#5-Kasey Kahne (second) posted his second top-10 start of 2013 and his 10th in 18 races at Phoenix International Raceway.
#48-Jimmie Johnson (third) posted his 11th top-10 start at Phoenix International Raceway. It is his second in two races this season.
#17-Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (12th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.(NASCAR Statistics)(3-1-2013)

Coverage of Qualifying for the Subway Fresh Fit 500(k) Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway is scheduled for Friday, March 1, 2013 at 6:10pm/et.
TV: SPEED- 6:00pm/et
Radio: none.
Qualifying Re-Air: on SPEED at 9:30pm/et and 12:00am/et

Pole Progression: (who had the pole first, who got it next and who ended up with it)
#32-Schrader, 1st out to qualify, 131.847mph, starts 42nd
#36-Yeley, 2nd out, 135.064, starts 27th
#51-Allmendinger, 3rd out, 135.440, starts 23rd
#11-Hamlin, 6th out, 136.924, starts 8th
#24-Gordon, 10th out, 137.164, starts 5th
#5-Kahne, 11th out, 137.862, starts 2nd
#55-Martin, 19th out, 138.074mph, starts 1st

Friday Practice: for the Subway Fresh Fit 500(k) Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway is over, after 85 scheduled minutes, the top 5, slowest, notes and more:
#20-Kenseth 137.023
#18-Busch 136.976
#55-Martin 136.872
#11-Hamlin 136.846
#99-Edwards 136.841
slowest: #32-Schrader 130.293 & #95-Speed 132.665
notes; #93-Kvapil slid up into the wall early in practice, no serious damage reported.
See fastest laps, laps run, best 10-lap average on the Phoenix Practice 1 Speeds page (pdf).(3-1-2013)

Race info at: Race Info Page

Event Entry List

Qualifying Rules

Past Champions Provisional

All Time Sprint Cup Pole Winners

2013 Sprint Cup Results

Qualifying order is back to the old way, a randon draw. Someone from the team draws a bingo like ball just before the first practice of the event.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying rules for 2013: (except Daytona 500)
1) Starting positions 1 through 36 determined by the fastest qualifying speeds in descending order with the fast qualifier being first.
2) Starting positions 37 through 42) will be provisional starting positions that were not among the fastest 36 from qualifying. Provisional starting positions will be assigned to the highest ranked NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship car owners who are present at the Event and have entered the Event by the entry deadline and will be assigned in descending order until the six (6) provisional spots are filled.
3) If positions 37 - 42 are not filled by eligible car owners, the remaining positions will be assigned to car owners based on qualifying results.
NOTE: Once provisional starting positions have been assigned, the cars will be placed in the starting lineup by their qualifying speed in descending order with the fastest qualifying speed starting thirty-seventh.
4) If after starting positions 1 through 42 are assigned and there remains a car owner whose driver is the current or a former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion who participated as a driver in the previous NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season and who was entered in the Event for that owner in that car prior to the entry deadline, a 43rd provisional starting position, the "Champion's Provisional", will be assigned to that car owner. The most recent NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion driver not previously qualifying for positions 1 through 42 will be assigned the position. 5) If the 43rd provisional starting position is not filled by an eligible NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, it will be assigned to the next highest ranked car owner based on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship car owner points.
6) If any starting positions remain unfilled, they will be assigned according to current calendar year NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship car owner point standings.
7) If any starting positions remain unfilled, they will be assigned to the car owners who have made the greatest number of qualifying attempts during the current season.
8) If any starting positions remain unfilled, they will be assigned to cars in order (1,2,3&etc.) in which their numbers were selected in the qualifying draw.
NOTE: Until the completion of three races of the current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, the final previous season NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship car owner point standings will be used for determining the starting positions for the highest ranked car owners as described above.

More info on Past Champions Provisonal and rules and limits on my 2013 Past Champions Provisional Page