Brad Keselowski has scored the pole position at the Southern 500 at historical Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.
With two races left before the start of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Keselowski set the fastest lap in what could be a momentum builder.
It was Keselowski’s first pole of the season, first at Darlington and the ninth of his career.
“For my team, we haven’t had, to date I would say, as strong of a year as what we had last year, and I think that kind of wears on everybody a little bit, including myself,” said Keselowski.
“But I feel like we have positive momentum, and you always want to see results that showcase that, and this is one of those results that I feel like we can carry for the next 12 weeks.
“I’m just really pleased with today’s qualifying effort and the momentum we’re carrying.”
With tyre degradation a big issue at Darlington, Busch set the fast speed of the time trials in the first round, running 288.88km/h to edge Ricky Stenhouse Jr. by .017 seconds. Through each subsequent round, the top speeds declined as tyre wear came into play. Keselowski leading both the second and final sessions, the latter of which determines the pole winner.
Kevin Harvick, last year’s winner from the pole, qualified third followed by Joey Logano and Jeff Gordon.
Trying to squeeze enough speed out of her Chevrolet, Danica Patrick tagged the outside wall during her final run in the first round, forcing the team to roll out a backup car. Accordingly, Patrick will start from the rear of the field on Sunday.
Fast in Friday’s practice, Greg Biffle also sustained damage to his 16 Ford after contact with the wall in the second round. Biffle was credited with a 24th-place qualifying effort, and his team opted to try to repair the car, rather than resorting to a backup.
Josh Wise, Timmy Hill and Travis Kvapil failed to make the 43-car field.