Brad Keselowski captured the pole for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Keselowski posted a lap of 27.927 seconds, 136.384 mph for his 15th career pole and first since 2017. He now has four poles at New Hampshire, the most of any track.
“As you look to rank the tracks for where qualifying well matters this is certainly towards the top,” Keselowski said. “I think probably the only track I can think of where it’s maybe more important would be Martinsville in the fall, or the two races we have there in the spring and fall, but we’re happy with that effort. It certainly bodes well for our shot to get those stage wins and of course the overall race win come Sunday, but we still have to go earn it.”
Kyle Busch qualified second for his seventh front row start at New Hampshire and third in 2019.
Last weekend’s winner Kurt Busch was third with Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney rounding out the top five.
“I’m happy that we got third, but I’m disappointed because I’m like where was the lap time? Where did I lose it?,” Kurt Busch said. “But, thanks to the guys and the engineering group to take our car from where we were in practice and to give us a shot at the pole.”
Martin Truex Jr., Matt DiBenedetto, Joey Logano, Aric Almirola and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top 10.
For DiBenedetto it marks his career best start in his 160th race.
“These types of places seem to be where we really excel,” DiBenedetto said. “The short tracks, road courses, places with the most off throttle time are where our guys know how to give me a fast race car.”
Alex Bowman qualified last after losing a drive shaft in his No. 88 Chevrolet at the start of his first lap.
“There was just a big boom going down the front straightaway and then smoke and oil everywhere,” Bowman said. “I just tried to get it off the race track.”
Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman qualified 23rd and 26th, respectively, in backup cars. Both will start at the rear on Sunday.
“It’s a backup for a reason,” Hamlin said. “It’s been in the trailer for a long time, so we’re going to do the best we can with it. Hopefully execute well and have the right strategy and good track position and try to make something of the weekend.”
