Martin, in his No.5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, turned in a lap around the one-mile oval at 133.814 m.p.h. for his 44th career pole. He won back-to-back poles at Atlanta and Bristol in March.

"I'm excited about the race, and I didn't expect to get the pole," Martin said. "That wasn't a spectacular lap. We didn't leave a lot laying out there. I really got a lot at Atlanta and Bristol that surprised us."

Prior to Atlanta, Martin had not won a pole in the series since May 2001 at Richmond.

Martin will start on the pole at Phoenix for the first time in 25 starts here. His only victory at Phoenix came in 1993.

Kyle Busch will start on the outside pole after posting the second best lap at 133.725 m.p.h.

"We put together a solid lap," Busch said. "These are our struggle points right here - Phoenix, Loudon (NH) and Martinsville - and we felt like we gained a little bit today, and hopefully that will show for something that we can gain for tomorrow."

Busch has performed well at Phoenix with six top-10 finishes, including four in a row dating back to the spring 2007 race. His second career victory in the series came in his first start at Phoenix in November 2005.

Kurt Busch qualified third, followed by Jeff Gordon and Brian Vickers.

Gordon, who won two weeks ago at Texas to end a 47-race winless streak, enters Phoenix with a 162-point lead.

Tony Stewart, Paul Menard, David Reutimann, Regan Smith and Jimmie Johnson completed the top-10.

Johnson will attempt to win his fourth consecutive race at Phoenix.

Thirteen times in series history has a driver won four or more consecutive races at a track, with Johnson that last to do it, taking four in a row at Lowe's Motor Speedway from 2004-05.

Todd Bodine, Jeremy Mayfield, Dexter Bean, Brandon Ash and Trevor Boys failed to qualify.

Saturday's race is scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m. (et).