Keselowski tops Harvick for Richmond Cup pole

Harvick had just laid down a lap which looked good enough to earn his third consecutive pole at the short track when Keselowski followed up with an average lap speed of 127.185 mph to claim the top spot for the Federated Auto Parts 400.

Harvick ended up second (126.559 mph) and Chase Elliott was third (126.174 mph). Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top-five.

The pole is the third this season for Keselowski, 17th of his NASCAR Cup Series career and second at Richmond. In his only previous start from the pole at Richmond in 2014, he also won the race.

“It was really good. I didn’t really know what to expect since we didn’t do a qualifying run in practice, but we have had some phenomenal short-run speed here the two or three years here,” Keselowski said. 

“We haven’t necessarily qualified all that well but when race comes in the short runs we can really make some steam and it showed that here in qualifying. I hope we have the long-run speed because I think there will be a lot of long runs in the race, but certainly qualifying up front, getting the first pit stall and all the things that go with it are certainly great for our team.

“Went all of last year and didn’t have a pole and this year we have three. I’m really proud of my team and happy for us.”

The rest of the top-10 starters are Denny Hamlin, Aric Almirola, Martin Truex Jr. – who the spring Richmond race – Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson.

Johnson is the only non-playoff driver to qualify in the top-10.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Time	Gap	Mph
1	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	21.229		127.185
2	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	21.334	0.105	126.559
3	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	21.399	0.170	126.174
4	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	21.411	0.182	126.103
5	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	21.417	0.188	126.068
6	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	21.442	0.213	125.921
7	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	21.509	0.280	125.529
8	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	21.526	0.297	125.430
9	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	21.563	0.334	125.214
10	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	21.569	0.340	125.180
11	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	21.585	0.356	125.087
12	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	21.598	0.369	125.012
13	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	21.605	0.376	124.971
14	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	21.609	0.380	124.948
15	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	21.612	0.383	124.931
16	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	21.617	0.388	124.902
17	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	21.631	0.402	124.821
18	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	21.640	0.411	124.769
19	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	21.655	0.426	124.683
20	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	21.660	0.431	124.654
21	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	21.699	0.470	124.430
22	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	21.702	0.473	124.412
23	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	21.737	0.508	124.212
24	21	Paul Menard		Ford	21.747	0.518	124.155
25	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	21.808	0.579	123.808
26	36	Matt Tifft		Ford	21.865	0.636	123.485
27	38	David Ragan		Ford	21.873	0.644	123.440
28	22	Joey Logano		Ford	21.896	0.667	123.310
29	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	21.910	0.681	123.231
30	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	21.960	0.731	122.951
31	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	22.061	0.832	122.388
32	15	Ross Chastain		Chevrolet	22.124	0.895	122.039
33	52	J.J. Yeley		Ford	22.262	1.033	121.283
34	51	Austin Theriault		Chevrolet	22.329	1.10	120.919
35	77	Reed Sorenson		Chevrolet	22.350	1.121	120.805
36	00	Landon Cassill		Chevrolet	22.455	1.226	120.240
37	53	Spencer Boyd		Chevrolet	22.584	1.355	119.554
38	27	Quin Houff		Chevrolet	22.654	1.425	119.184