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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