Brad Keselowski secured his first pole of the 2019 season during Friday's qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Foxwoods Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire.
Keselowski beat out Kyle Busch in one of the final qualifying runs of the day, while Kurt Busch qualified third on the heels of his win in last week's Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway.
Here is a look at the full qualifying order, courtesy of NASCAR.com (Time in seconds in parenthesis):
1. Brad Keselowski: 27.927
2. Kyle Busch: 27.942
3. Kurt Busch: 27.957
4. Erik Jones: 27.967
5. Ryan Blaney: 27.982
6. Martin Truex Jr.: 27.989
7. Matt DiBenedetto: 28.008
8. Joey Logano: 28.028
9. Aric Almirola: 28.030
10. Jimmie Johnson: 28.038
11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: 28.063
12. Chase Elliott: 28.066
13. Daniel Suarez: 28.087
14. Kevin Harvick: 28.110
15. Kyle Larson: 28.131
16. Clint Bowyer: 28.164
17. Paul Menard: 28.302
18. Ty Dillon: 28.303
19. Daniel Hemric: 28.307
20. David Ragan: 28.332
21. Austin Dillon: 28.367
22. William Byron: 28.400
23. Denny Hamlin: 28.432
24. Michael McDowell: 28.437
25. Chris Buescher: 28.525
26. Ryan Newman: 28.597
27. Bubba Wallace: 28.618
28. Ryan Preece: 28.633
29. Corey Lajoie: 28.655
30. Matt Tifft: 28.674
31. Landon Cassill: 28.848
32. Ross Chastain: 29.116
33. Reed Sorenson: 29.405
34. Quin Houff: 29.561
35. Andy Seuss: 29.669
36. Austin Theriault: 30.874
37. Alex Bowman: DNF
Erik Jones occupied the top spot for much of Friday's qualifying session until Kyle Busch surpassed him in the latter stages. Then, Keselowski beat out Busch in his first of two laps:
Kurt Busch gave Keselowski a run for his money and was nearly on pace to beat him out but ultimately had to settle for the inside spot in Row 2:
While Keselowski and the Busch brothers thrived, there were a few mishaps during and before qualifying among the other drivers.
William Byron narrowly avoided disaster when he tapped the wall during his run, and he managed to recover enough to earn the No. 22 qualifying position:
His Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman wasn't so fortunate.
Just a few weeks removed from his first Cup Series win at Chicagoland Speedway, Bowman experienced a mechanical issue that ended his day:
As a result, Bowman will start at the end of the field Sunday in 37th.
Before qualifying even started, there was some controversy surrounding Daniel Hemric and the No. 8 team. According to NASCAR.com, Hemric's car failed inspection three times Friday, which led to car chief Darin Nestlerode getting ejected from the track and banned for the remainder of the weekend.
Despite the distraction, Hemric managed a solid 19th-place run in qualifying.
Keselowski has a solid chance to move up in the standings this week. A win would tie him for the most victories this season at four with Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.
While Keselowski has only one win in 18 career starts at New Hampshire, his average finish of 11.1 is third to only Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson among drivers with at least 10 starts at the track.
Kyle Busch is also a strong bet starting from the second spot since he has three wins at New Hampshire and four wins overall this season.
Keselowski, Busch and the rest of the field will vie for a victory in the Foxwoods Casino 301 on Sunday beginning at 3 p.m. ET.
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