Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Keselowski scores surprise pole

Brad Keselowski claimed a surprise first Sprint Cup series pole for Sunday's Chase opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

The Penske driver caused an upset in qualifying by beating the previous benchmark set by title contender Clint Bowyer, who looked set to start the championship battle from pole.

Despite the sun coming out when Keselowski was making his qualifying run, he was able to beat the Richard Childress Racing driver and set a new track record in the process with a laptime of 28.515 seconds, at an average speed of 133.572 mph.

"I felt I got a shot at the pole before I qualified but you never really know," said Keselowski. "When I ran the lap I knew I gave up a little bit of time right in the middle of both corners but I had a plan going into it and stuck to it and it worked. I'm really proud of that lap."

Bowyer headed the group of Chase drivers from second, followed by Stewart Haas's Tony Stewart, who had been fastest earlier in practice and one of only four championship contenders among the top 10 in qualifying.

The Earnhardt Ganassi duo of Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya were fourth and fifth respectively, making it four Chevys among the top five, while AJ Allmendinger was best of the Fords in sixth, ahead of the fastest Toyota of David Reutimann.

"We've got a leg up on them for Friday," joked Bowyer. "After that, they'll run you down and it will be a race. The same old guys there always is. That's why they're in the Chase. But I tell you, it keeps getting closer and closer.

"I think the level of competition just keeps getting tighter and tighter with each and every race. I think that's why you're starting to see guys that don't normally sit on poles, sit on poles and everything else."

Chase leader Denny Hamlin was only 22nd fastest, while reigning champion Jimmie Johnson, who won at the track back in June, will line up 25th on the grid on Sunday, his worst starting position for the first Chase race.

The points leader of the regular season, Richard Childress Racing's Kevin Harvick was behind them in 27th, while the slowest of the Chase drivers was Matt Kenseth in 33rd, behind Hendrick Motorsports' Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Red Bull's Reed Sorenson returned to the #83 Red Bull Toyota and spun while starting his qualifying effort, ending up 37th fastest. Germain Racing's Casey Mears, who drove for the team earlier this year, was fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 18th while Johnny Sauter and Jeff Green failed to make the field.

Pos  Driver              Car        Speed    Time     Gap
 1.  Brad Keselowski     Dodge      133.572  28.515s
 2.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet  133.464  28.538s  + 0.023s
 3.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet  133.413  28.549s  + 0.034s
 4.  Jamie McMurray      Chevrolet  133.389  28.554s  + 0.039s
 5.  Juan Montoya        Chevrolet  133.357  28.561s  + 0.046s
 6.  A.J. Allmendinger   Ford       133.273  28.579s  + 0.064s
 7.  David Reutimann     Toyota     133.249  28.584s  + 0.069s
 8.  Paul Menard         Ford       133.105  28.615s  + 0.100s
 9.  Kyle Busch          Toyota     133.096  28.617s  + 0.102s
10.  Carl Edwards        Ford       133.040  28.629s  + 0.114s
11.  David Ragan         Ford       132.970  28.644s  + 0.129s
12.  Kurt Busch          Dodge      132.864  28.667s  + 0.152s
13.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet  132.711  28.700s  + 0.185s
14.  Greg Biffle         Ford       132.637  28.716s  + 0.201s
15.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dodge      132.540  28.737s  + 0.222s
16.  Martin Truex Jr     Toyota     132.429  28.761s  + 0.246s
17.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet  132.310  28.787s  + 0.272s
18.  Casey Mears         Toyota     132.199  28.811s  + 0.296s
19.  Elliott Sadler      Ford       132.167  28.818s  + 0.303s
20.  Regan Smith         Chevrolet  132.117  28.829s  + 0.314s
21.  Kasey Kahne         Ford       132.099  28.833s  + 0.318s
22.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota     132.094  28.834s  + 0.319s
23.  Marcos Ambrose      Toyota     132.085  28.836s  + 0.321s
24.  Ryan Newman         Chevrolet  132.057  28.842s  + 0.327s
25.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet  131.993  28.856s  + 0.341s
26.  Mark Martin         Chevrolet  131.980  28.859s  + 0.344s
27.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet  131.884  28.880s  + 0.365s
28.  Scott Speed         Toyota     131.719  28.916s  + 0.401s
29.  Robby Gordon        Toyota     131.615  28.939s  + 0.424s
30.  Dave Blaney         Chevrolet  131.533  28.957s  + 0.442s
31.  Joey Logano         Toyota     131.193  29.032s  + 0.517s
32.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet  131.139  29.044s  + 0.529s
33.  Matt Kenseth        Ford       131.022  29.070s  + 0.555s
34.  Landon Cassill      Toyota     130.837  29.111s  + 0.596s
35.  Joe Nemechek        Toyota     130.676  29.147s  + 0.632s
36.  Mike Bliss          Toyota     129.998  29.299s  + 0.784s
37.  Reed Sorenson       Toyota     129.825  29.338s  + 0.823s
38.  Michael McDowell    Dodge      129.525  29.406s  + 0.891s
39.  David Gilliland     Ford       129.481  29.416s  + 0.901s
40.  Travis Kvapil       Ford       129.204  29.479s  + 0.964s
41.  Tony Raines         Ford       128.754  29.582s  + 1.067s
42.  Andy Lally          Chevrolet  128.680  29.599s  + 1.084s
43.  Bobby Labonte       Chevrolet    Champion's Provisional

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Johnson not obsessed with fifth title
Next article Hamlin: Johnson still the favourite

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe