JOLIET, Ill. — The opening round in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship won’t decide the NASCAR champion.

What it could do, though, is separate the contenders from the pretenders.

“It’s so important not to have a bad day in that first race,” said five-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson. “We’ll have a pretty good idea of who will be strong and who won’t right out of the gate.”

The 10-race Chase opens today at Chicagoland Speedway with Matt Kenseth, ranked fourth in the 12-driver field, starting from the pole. It’s a prime piece of real estate considering track position is so critical these days.

With more and more passing done on pit road as opposed to the actual race track, Kenseth will be blessed with the best pit stall and, at least at the start of the race, no traffic as he attempts to open the Chase with a victory.

“I think it is always important and starting up front and having a good pit stall is nice,” Kenseth said. “Hopefully, you get a good start and get bonus points and try to keep up with the track a little better.”

Kenseth had the fastest qualifying lap with a speed of 183.243 mph in his Roush Fenway Racing Ford. He easily held off Paul Menard, who turned a lap at 183.125 in a Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, and Kurt Busch, who qualified third at 183.032 in a Penske Racing Dodge.

It’s just the sixth pole in 12 full seasons for Kenseth, and second this year.

Chase drivers took spots four through six, as Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski kept Kenseth in sight.

In other events on Saturday:

Keselowski wins Nationwide race

JOLIET, Ill. — Brad Keselowski won the Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland Speedway with a dominating run.

It’s the third victory this season for the defending Nationwide champion. It’s also his first win since returning to the series three races ago. He sat out three after he broke an ankle in a crash while testing at Road Atlanta.

Indy Japan pole goes to Dixon

MOTEGI, Japan — New Zealand’s Scott Dixon secured the pole position for today’s Indy Japan at Twin Ring Motegi.

The Target Chip Ganassi driver posted the best lap of 1 minute, 38.3918 seconds to edge Team Penske driver Will Power of Australia by 0.0276 seconds.

American driver Graham Rahal was third.

They were followed by Ryan Briscoe, of Australia, in fourth, Canadian rookie James Hinchcliffe in fifth and defending champion Helio Castroneves in sixth.

Schumacher Top Fuel qualifyer

CONCORD, N.C. — Tony Schumacher took the No. 1 spot in Top Fuel qualifying at zMAX Dragway in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Nationals, the opening event of the NHRA’s six-race playoffs.

Matt Hagan, Jason Line and Eddie Krawiec also took the No. 1 qualifying spots in their respective categories at the 17th of 22 events on the schedule.

Schumacher had a run of 3.771 seconds on his last pass to tie for the third quickest in Top Fuel history, while his speed of 325.92 mph was the third fastest in NHRA history.

Pruett and Rojas repeat as champs

LEXINGTON, Ohio — Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas repeated as Grand-Am Rolex Series champions after finishing second in the season finale at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

The co-drivers of the No. 01 BMW/Riley of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates overcame a back-of-class start due to a penalty for changing engines. Pruett now has four Daytona Prototype championships, while Rojas has three.