(NEWTON, Iowa - July 13, 2012) - Brennan Poole carried his momentum from leading final practice at Iowa Speedway into winning the Menards Pole Award presented by Ansell for tonight's Prairie Meadows 200, topping fellow championship contender Alex Bowman with a qualifying lap of 23.799 seconds (132.358 mph).

Poole (No. 25 The Ad Man/Midas Chevrolet) edged Bowman by 0.028 second, a difference of 0.155 mph on the 0.875-mile oval. The pole is his third in ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards competition, following one each at Pocono Raceway in 2011 and 2012.

Both Poole and Bowman have two wins this season, and they will each look for their third tonight from the front row. Tonight's race will air live on SPEED at 9 p.m. ET. ARCARacing.com will also feature live timing and scoring coverage from the 200-lap, 175-mile race.

With the pole, Poole earned 15 bonus points in the ARCA Racing Series standings to extend his lead over Chris Buescher, who qualified 14th, to 25 points.

Randy Dolphin, a regional manager for Ansell based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, presented the pole award to Poole in Iowa Speedway's Victory Lane.

"The day's been pretty great," Poole said. "Our first lap on the track, we were really, really good and we just kept working toward trying to get our car better for the race. It's just really awesome. I'm so proud of the team. We overcame some things today and they worked so hard, and it's just awesome to be able to reward them with the pole. I'm just the guy behind the wheel holding the steering wheel. It's really cool to do it at Iowa. This place is definitely a challenge and it's so much fun to drive."

Ryan Reed will start third, just ahead of debut starter Chad Boat. Clay Rogers, who took the top speed from Poole just minutes before the end of the first practice, will start fifth for just his second race in 2012.

Sixteen-year-old Erik Jones gives Venturini Motorsports not only the pole, but three cars in the top six, as he will fill the third row. Chad Hackenbracht and Grant Enfinger will each look for their first career win from the fourth row. Des Moines, Iowa driver Mason Mitchell will start ninth in his first ARCA race, just inside nine-time ARCA champion and 2007 Iowa winner Frank Kimmel.

2010 Iowa winner Tom Hessert will start 15th.

The full qualifying results are available here.