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New Hampshire NASCAR: Brad Keselowski takes another pole

Brad Keselowski continued his recent hot streak by taking pole position for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Keselowski, who won at the same track earlier in the year, beat out Ganassi's Jamie McMurray to secure his fifth pole of 2014, and give himself the first place in pitlane for race day.

"I'm just trying to go out and do my job," said the Penske driver, who is chasing a hat-trick of victories this weekend following consecutive wins at Richmond and Chicagoland.

"We've had a few poles here before but this one is extra-special, with everything that's going on in the Chase.

"Having the first pitstall for the race is going to be a huge advantage."

Cool conditions make for high speeds right from the start of the session, with Jimmie Johnson lowering the previous track record within the opening minutes.

That mark was reset throughout the afternoon before Keselowski finally claimed it with his 27.090-second pole lap at a 140.598mph average.

McMurray admitted that he thought he'd done enough to secure the top spot for himself until Keselowski beat him, but he said that he was happy with a front-row starting position nonetheless.

"It was really close," he said. "I was pretty pumped up when I came down pitroad, and I saw Brad go past and I thought, 'that's going to be interesting'.

"And then he beat me, so that was kind of deflating. But it's been a good day. Our car has been quick from the time we unloaded it."

Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin will complete the second row ahead of Kyle Busch and Johnson.

"The first lap was decent," said the Hendrick driver. "The second lap is usually better, but I overdrove Turn 3 and ended up a lane too high."

It was a mixed afternoon for some of the other Chase contenders.

Jeff Gordon tied for 13th-fastest with Clint Bowyer, the pair missing out on progressing to the final round by just 0.008s.

Greg Biffle and AJ Allmendinger have even more work to do after qualifying on the 13th and 14th rows respectively.

STARTING GRID:

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap
1 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 27.090s -
2 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 27.121s 0.031s
3 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 27.193s 0.103s
4 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 27.253s 0.163s
5 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 27.260s 0.170s
6 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 27.319s 0.229s
7 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 27.354s 0.264s
8 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 27.398s 0.308s
9 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 27.412s 0.322s
10 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 27.425s 0.335s
11 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 27.428s 0.338s
12 Brian Vickers Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 27.449s 0.359s
13 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 27.412s -
14 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 27.412s -
15 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 27.413s -
16 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 27.430s -
17 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 27.436s -
18 Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 27.445s -
19 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 27.485s -
20 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 27.495s -
21 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 27.498s -
22 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 27.502s -
23 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 27.506s -
24 Justin Allgaier HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 27.542s -
25 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 27.558s -
26 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 27.563s -
27 A.J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 27.582s -
28 Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 27.676s -
29 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 27.684s -
30 Landon Cassill Circle Sport Chevrolet 27.803s -
31 Cole Whitt Swan Racing Toyota 27.858s -
32 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 27.863s -
33 Clay Rogers BK Racing Toyota 27.891s -
34 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 27.968s -
35 Alex Bowman BK Racing Toyota 27.990s -
36 David Stremme Circle Sport Chevrolet 27.998s -
37 Reed Sorenson Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 28.042s -
38 Michael Annett Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 28.067s -
39 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Chevrolet 28.162s -
40 Travis Kvapil BK Racing Toyota 28.208s -
41 Corey LaJoie Randy Humphrey Racing Ford 28.306s -
42 Mike Wallace Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 28.472s -
43 Timmy Hill Go FAS Racing Ford 28.614s -

Qualifying format: Round 1 sets 13-43, round 2 sets 1-12

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