Keselowski on pole with track record at New Hampshire

Loudon, NH (SportsNetwork.com) - Brad Keselowski's winning momentum in the Sprint Cup Series continued on Friday, as he claimed the pole for the Sylvania 300 with a new track qualifying record at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Keselowski made a lap around this flat 1.058-mile track at 140.598 mph for his fifth pole of the season and the eighth of his Sprint Cup career. It's the 19th time in the series this season that a new track record has been set. This is the fourth track record for Keselowski in 2014 -- Phoenix, Dover, Kentucky and New Hampshire.

The previous track record at New Hampshire was 138.130 mph, set by Kyle Busch in July.

Keselowski, the driver of the No. 2 Ford for Team Penske and the 2012 Sprint Cup champion, has won five races this year, including the Sept. 6 regular- season-finale at Richmond and then last Sunday's opening round in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship at Chicagoland. He also scored the victory in the July race at New Hampshire.

"This kind of track is kind of right in my wheelhouse, right in our team's wheelhouse," Keselowski said. "We had this race circled before the Chase started, and we felt decent about Chicago. But really felt like this was a race of emphasis for us to get a win and get out of the first bracket. With last week considered, it's even a stronger position for us to be pushing hard. It's good. We just want to keep it going."

Jamie McMurray, a non-Chase driver, will start alongside Keselowski on the front row after posting a lap at 140.437 mph.

"We brought a fast car, a brand new car this weekend," McMurray said. "(Crew chief) Keith (Rodden) has done a really good job again. We qualified second. The pit selection here is also a big deal, getting blocked in because you do a lot of two tires. The fact that we qualified well, you get to have that opening leaving is going to be really valuable especially if you are running up front."

Kevin Harvick qualified third, followed by Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano, Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman. All of those drivers are in the Chase. Rookie Kyle Larson, not in the playoffs, was 10th.

Other Chase drivers and their starting positions include: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (11th), Jeff Gordon (13th), Kurt Busch (15th), Matt Kenseth (16th), Kasey Kahne (17th), Aric Almirola (21st), Greg Biffle (26th) and A.J. Allmendinger (27th).

All 43 drivers who attempted qualifying made the starting field for Sunday's 300-lap race at New Hampshire.