It was Mears' third career pole, and the latest in a series of benchmarks that indicate improvement for the 29-year-old nephew of four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears.
Mears joined the elite Hendrick Motorsports team this year and won his first career race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May.
"It's just awesome," Mears said. "Obviously, when you start something new, you want to do things right."
Although Mears ranks 19th in the standings going into Sunday's USG Sheetrock 400, he says his team is on a "little bit of a roll" that included back-to-back, top-five finishes at Pocono Raceway and Michigan International Speedway last month.
And Mears said he got a little boost in qualifying on Friday when a cloud floated over Turns 3 and 4 during his lap to cool off the track and make it slightly less slippery.
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Can one cloud really help a driver go faster in qualifying?
"Whether it's in my head or there's grip on the track, I always go faster when there's a cloud out," Mears said.
Mears' quick lap late in qualifying bumped Martin Truex Jr.'s Chevrolet off what would have been Truex's first career pole. He'll start second on Sunday with a lap of 182.476 mph.
Truex is having a breakout season for Dale Earnhardt Inc., but he's still looking for his first career pole.