Qualifying report

NASCAR Cup Texas II

Brad Keselowski takes pole position for RFK at Texas

Fresh off their first victory of the 2022 season last weekend at Bristol, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing backed it up with a pole position at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday.

Nick DeGroot

Edited: Sep 25, 2022, 12:35 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Brad Keselowski led an all-Ford front row, beating Team Penske's Joey Logano by 0.028s

His lap of 188.99mph (28.573s) was enough for his 18th career pole position and his first in over three years.

"We want to win, but you got to start somewhere," said Keselowski after celebrating with his crew. "Had a good test last week at Homestead -- learned a bunch. We really needed that and now we're able to apply it here in Texas with our RFK No. 6 Ford. We'll see, 500 miles on Sunday is a little bit different from qualifying, but a great start for us for sure.

Speaking of the work he has put in to help RFK become competitive again: "Yeah, it's a lot of pain but now we're starting to feel the gains from it. It's just like working out. It sucks. It really does. But then, when you get out of the gym and you feel better a week or two later, you start to see the results and that's what we're getting as a team."

Looking ahead to the race, he said drivers will have to "versatile" in what will be a long, hot and difficult day. "I think there's been a lot of eyes on the Xfinity race here in just a little bit to see what we can learn but you know, Texas is a really tough track and as hot as it is this weekend, it's going to make it that much tougher."

Beyond the front row was William Byron placing third, Tyler Reddick fourth, and Michael McDowell with an impressive qualifying effort in fifth.

Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top-ten.

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph 1 6 United States Brad Keselowski Ford 1 28.573 188.990 2 22 Joey Logano Ford 1 28.601 0.028 0.028 188.805 3 24 William Byron Chevrolet 1 28.601 0.028 0.000 188.805 4 8 Tyler Reddick Chevrolet 1 28.664 0.091 0.063 188.390 5 34 Michael McDowell Ford 1 28.719 0.146 0.055 188.029 6 9 United States Chase Elliott Chevrolet 1 28.731 0.158 0.012 187.950 7 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 1 28.793 0.220 0.062 187.546 8 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 1 28.879 0.306 0.086 186.987 9 5 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 1 28.996 0.423 0.117 186.233 10 99 Mexico Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 1 29.126 0.553 0.130 185.401

Round 1 / Group A

Ty Gibbs was the first driver in qualifying to reach the 28-second bracket, but it wasn't enough to advance. He was eventually bumped by Logano.

Reddick, who led all Group A drivers in practice, repeated that performance in qualifying. His 28.593s lap topped the round. Larson, Logano, Keselowski, and Hamlin also advanced.

RFK Racing remained impressive a week after their Bristol victory, with Keselowski advancing and Chris Buescher being the first driver on the outside. He missed out by just 0.040s.

Ryan Blaney and Christopher Bell were the only playoff drivers who failed to advance. Blaney will start 14th and Bell 22nd.

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph 1 8 United States Tyler Reddick Chevrolet 1 28.593 188.857 2 5 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 1 28.665 0.072 0.072 188.383 3 22 Joey Logano Ford 1 28.674 0.081 0.009 188.324 4 6 Brad Keselowski Ford 1 28.698 0.105 0.024 188.166 5 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 1 28.723 0.130 0.025 188.003 6 17 United States Chris Buescher Ford 1 28.763 0.170 0.040 187.741 7 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 1 28.768 0.175 0.005 187.709 8 23 Ty Gibbs Toyota 1 28.836 0.243 0.068 187.266 9 45 Bubba Wallace Toyota 1 28.851 0.258 0.015 187.169 10 20 Christopher Bell Toyota 1 28.963 0.370 0.112 186.445 11 10 United States Aric Almirola Ford 1 29.084 0.491 0.121 185.669 12 43 Erik Jones Chevrolet 1 29.137 0.544 0.053 185.331 13 38 Todd Gilliland Ford 1 29.150 0.557 0.013 185.249 14 31 Justin Haley Chevrolet 1 29.261 0.668 0.111 184.546 15 42 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 1 29.305 0.712 0.044 184.269 16 15 United States Garrett Smithley Ford 1 29.501 0.908 0.196 183.045 17 78 B.J. McLeod Ford 1 29.744 1.151 0.243 181.549 18 51 Cody Ware Ford

Round 1 / Group B

Landon Cassill had a loose moment on his warm-up lap, but managed to evade disaster.

It was Dillon who then put the No. 3 Chevrolet at the top of the charts with a 28.716s lap, but that time was nearly two tenths off his teammate from the first group. He held the position until William Byron eclipsed it with a 28.588s lap.

Dillon ended up second, followed by Elliott, Suarez, and McDowell.

Elliott was the last driver out, and bumped Austin Cindric with his time. The Penske driver missed advancing by 0.030s.

Cindric, Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman and Chase Briscoe were the playoff drivers who failed to advance. Cindric will start 11th, Chastain 12th, Bowman 17th, and Briscoe 30th.

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph 1 24 United States William Byron Chevrolet 1 28.588 188.890 2 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 1 28.716 0.128 0.128 188.048 3 99 Mexico Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 1 28.719 0.131 0.003 188.029 4 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 1 28.719 0.131 0.000 188.029 5 34 Michael McDowell Ford 1 28.721 0.133 0.002 188.016 6 2 United States Austin Cindric Ford 1 28.751 0.163 0.030 187.820 7 1 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 1 28.753 0.165 0.002 187.806 8 19 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 1 28.826 0.238 0.073 187.331 9 48 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 1 28.837 0.249 0.011 187.259 10 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 1 28.840 0.252 0.003 187.240 11 21 United States Harrison Burton Ford 1 28.851 0.263 0.011 187.169 12 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Chevrolet 1 28.944 0.356 0.093 186.567 13 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 1 28.994 0.406 0.050 186.245 14 41 Cole Custer Ford 1 29.051 0.463 0.057 185.880 15 16 Noah Gragson Chevrolet 1 29.103 0.515 0.052 185.548 16 7 United States Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 1 29.170 0.582 0.067 185.122 17 14 Chase Briscoe Ford 1 29.181 0.593 0.011 185.052 18 77 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 1 30.380 1.792 1.199 177.749

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article RCR drivers top NASCAR Cup practice at Texas

Next article Larson on possible Texas changes: "Anything would be better"

Top Comments

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

View More & Comment

Latest news

Charles Leclerc reacts to Ferrari fear: 'We know what line not to cross'

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

1 h

Charles Leclerc reacts to Ferrari fear: 'We know what line not to cross'

Kyle Busch Remembered: Rowdy's wildest and most impressive Talladega moments

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Talladega II

1 h

Kyle Busch Remembered: Rowdy's wildest and most impressive Talladega moments

Lamborghini World Finals PRO-PRO/AM Race 2: Leitch/Stasi dominate to seal title

Lamborghini Super Trofeo

LBST Lamborghini Super Trofeo

World Finals - Monza 2026

2 h

Lamborghini World Finals PRO-PRO/AM Race 2: Leitch/Stasi dominate to seal title

Toto Wolff reveals he is actively vetting “two or three people” to replace him at Mercedes

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

2 h

Toto Wolff reveals he is actively vetting “two or three people” to replace him at Mercedes

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts