Keselowski Wins New Hampshire Pole

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LOUDON, NH - RIS - 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.

Keselowski rolled off for his final fast lap in a bright yellow and black car sponsored by Alliance Truck Parts.  A stark difference from the usual blue and white Miller Mustangs that he often drives. 

“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 will start alongside Keselowski on Sunday.  Kurt Busch, Erik Jones, and Ryan Blaney round out the top five.  Team Penske, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Chip Ganassi Racing made up the top five with two Fords, two Toyotas and a Chevrolet.

“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 qualifiers.

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.”

 Starting Line Up by Row
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
27th Annual Foxwoods Resort Casino 301

Driver Date Time Speed

Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 2 Brad Keselowski Alliance Truck Parts Ford 27.927 136.384
2 18 Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Toyota 27.942 136.311
Row 2: 3 1 Kurt Busch Monster Energy Chevrolet 27.957 136.238
4 20 Erik Jones STANLEY Toyota 27.967 136.189
Row 3: 5 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Sylvania Ford 27.982 136.116
6 19 Martin Truex Jr Sirius XM Toyota 27.989 136.082
Row 4: 7 95 Matt DiBenedetto Procore Toyota 28.008 135.990
8 22 Joey Logano AAA Insurance Ford 28.028 135.893
Row 5: 9 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 28.030 135.883
10 48 Jimmie Johnson Ally Chevrolet 28.038 135.844
Row 6: 11 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Fastenal Ford 28.063 135.723
12 9 Chase Elliott Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet 28.066 135.709
Row 7: 13 41 Daniel Suarez Haas Automation Ford 28.087 135.607
14 4 Kevin Harvick Busch Beer/National Forest Foundation Ford 28.110 135.496
Row 8: 15 42 Kyle Larson McDonald's Chevrolet 28.131 135.395
16 14 Clint Bowyer Toco Warranty/Haas Automation Ford 28.164 135.236
Row 9: 17 21 Paul Menard Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford 28.302 134.577
18 13 Ty Dillon GEICO Military Chevrolet 28.303 134.572
Row 10: 19 8 Daniel Hemric # Okuma Chevrolet 28.307 134.553
20 38 David Ragan Compressor World Ford 28.332 134.435
Row 11: 21 3 Austin Dillon BEHR ULTRA Chevrolet 28.367 134.269
22 24 William Byron Liberty University Chevrolet 28.400 134.113
Row 12: 23 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express Toyota 28.432 133.962
24 34 Michael McDowell Dockside Logistics Ford 28.437 133.938
Row 13: 25 37 Chris Buescher Scott Comfort Plus Chevrolet 28.525 133.525
26 6 Ryan Newman Oscar Mayer/Velveeta Ford 28.597 133.189
Row 14: 27 43 Bubba Wallace Victory Junction Chevrolet 28.618 133.091
28 47 Ryan Preece # Kroger Chevrolet 28.633 133.021
Row 15: 29 32 Corey LaJoie WeirsMotorSales/AdirondackTreeSurg Ford 28.655 132.919
30 36 Matt Tifft # Louis Kemp Crab Delights Ford 28.674 132.831
Row 16: 31 00 Landon Cassill(i) StarCom Fiber Chevrolet 28.848 132.030
32 15 Ross Chastain(i) YVARS Branding.com Chevrolet 29.116 130.815
Row 17: 33 27 Reed Sorenson VIP RacingExperience.com Chevrolet 29.405 129.529
34 77 Quin Houff #MyTrackMyRoots Chevrolet 29.561 128.845
Row 18: 35 51 Andy Seuss JACOB COMPANIES Ford 29.669 128.376
36 52 Austin Theriault BANGOR SAVINGS BANK Chevrolet 30.874 123.366
Row 19: 37 88 Alex Bowman Axalta Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Did Not Qualify: None.

Ron Fleshman

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2019, Issue 7, Posted 1:09 AM, 07.20.2019