Brad Keselowski must have gotten tired having started on the outside pole so many times this season.
Enough was enough on Friday for Keselowski, who after sitting on the outside pole six times in the first 12 races of 2014, earned his second No. 1 qualifying position of the season for Sunday’s FedEx 400 Benefitting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway.
Keselowski, who is seeking his second Sprint Cup victory of the season, recorded a DIS track record qualifying lap of 164.444 mph. It was Keselowski’s fifth career Sprint Cup pole and the third for Team Penske in 2014.
“We had a great car today, all day,” Keselowski said. “I just wanted to get going.”
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch won the outside pole with a best lap of 163.785 mph.
“The 2 (Keselowski) and 22 (Joey Logano) always seem to go faster on their second runs, and we just got beat on speed there,” Busch said. “The car’s been real fast all weekend, we’re happy with it in race trim and everything, so I think we’ll be good for the race on Sunday.”
Qualifying third through 12th in the third and final session were: Keselowski’s Penske Racing teammate Joey Logano (163.688), Coca-Cola 600 winner Jimmie Johnson (163.362), Kyle Larson (163.080), Denny Hamlin (163.066), Jeff Gordon (163.066), Kevin Harvick (162.499), Brian Vickers (162.411), Clint Bowyer (162.243), AJ Allmendinger (162.155) and Greg Biffle (160.995).
Team Penske – either Keselowski or Logano – has now sat on the front row in either the No. 1 or No. 2 spots in knockout qualifying 10 times in the first 13 races this season (there was no knockout qualifying in the season-opening Daytona 500).
Because only 43 cars made qualifying attempts, there were no cars that failed to qualify.
Here’s how they’ll line up for Sunday’s FedEx400 Benefitting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway:
Row 1 Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch
Row 2 Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson
Row 3 Kyle Larson, Jeff Gordon
Row 4 Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick
Row 5 Brian Vickers, Clint Bowyer
Row 6 AJ Allmendinger, Greg Biffle
Row 7 Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman
Row 8 Paul Menard, Martin Truex Jr.
Row 9 Kasey Kahne, Brett Moffitt
Row 10 Jamie McMurray, Tony Stewart
Row 11 Matt Kenseth, Casey Mears
Row 12 Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch
Row 13 Aric Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Row 14 Marcos Ambrose, Danica Patrick
Row 15 Carl Edwards, Justin Allgaier
Row 16 Cole Whitt, David Gilliland
Row 17 Josh Wise, David Ragan
Row 18 Alex Bowman, Landon Cassill
Row 19 JJ Yeley, Reed Sorenson
Row 20 Michael Annett, David Stremme
Row 21 Ryan Truex, Dave Blaney
Row 22 Blake Koch
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