Brad Keselowski topped the time sheets during qualifying for the third last race of the NASCAR season at Texas Motor Speedway.

With a fastest lap of 316.927 km/h (196.929 mph), earning the Team Penske driver his 11th career pole. He was the man topping all three rounds of group qualifying.

“This is a good start but our ultimate goal is to be the fastest at the end of the race on Sunday,” said Keselowski.

“I am pumped about this race. Track position is important everywhere and here isn’t as much as maybe a few others because the track wears out and you see some comers and goers with the way the track wears out but we will still take it.”

Kevin Harvick will share the front row.

Kyle Busch and the man in the news after last week’s confrontation with Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano in fourth.

The remaining Chase contenders ranked: Kurt Busch (seventh), Carl Edwards (13th), Jeff Gordon (18th) and Martin Truex Jr. (23rd). Gordon is the only driver who has locked up a spot in the Championship 4 thanks to his win last weekend at Martinsville Speedway.

On a big night for Matt Kenseth’s substitute Erik Jones; he qualified sixth for the Sprint Cup race, then went out and won the Truck Series race.

Joey Gase and Reed Sorenson failed to qualify for Sunday’s race.

VIDEO: Brad Keselowski speaks after qualifying

QUALIFYING: AAA Texas 500 – Texas Motor Speedway

POS.	CAR #	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	MPH	TIME	GAP
1	2	Brad Keselowski		Wurth	196.929	27.421	Leader
2	4	Kevin Harvick		Budweiser / Jimmy John’s	195.993	27.552	–0.131
3	18	Kyle Busch		M&M’s Crispy	195.716	27.591	–0.170
4	22	Joey Logano		AAA Insurance	195.419	27.633	–0.212
5	42	Kyle Larson		Target Plaid	195.341	27.644	–0.223
6	20	Erik Jones		DeWalt	195.298	27.650	–0.229
7	41	Kurt Busch		Haas Automation	194.988	27.694	–0.273
8	48	Jimmie Johnson		Lowe’s	194.890	27.708	–0.287
9	11	Denny Hamlin		FedEx Office	194.665	27.740	–0.319
10	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr		KELLY BLUE BOOK	194.475	27.767	–0.346
11	10	Danica Patrick		GoDaddy	193.313	27.934	–0.513
12	16	Greg Biffle		Ortho Ford Fusion	190.402	28.361	–0.940
13	19	Carl Edwards		Sport Clips	195.341	27.644	–0.223
14	15	Clint Bowyer		Maxwell House	195.327	27.646	–0.225
15	55	David Ragan		Aaron’s Online Dream Machine	195.178	27.667	–0.246
16	5	Kasey Kahne		Farmers Insurance	195.143	27.672	–0.251
17	13	Casey Mears		GEICO Military	194.819	27.718	–0.297
18	24	Jeff Gordon		Axalta	194.637	27.744	–0.323
19	31	Ryan Newman		Quicken Loans	194.560	27.755	–0.334
20	27	Paul Menard		Schrock / Menards	194.175	27.810	–0.389
21	33	Brian Scott		Shore Lodge	194.175	27.810	–0.389
22	14	Tony Stewart		Bass Pro Shops / Mobil 1	194.112	27.819	–0.398
23	78	Martin Truex Jr		Furniture Row/Visser Precision	194.000	27.835	–0.414
24	43	Aric Almirola		Smithfield	193.666	27.883	–0.462
25	21	Ryan Blaney		Snap-On Tools	195.525	27.618	–0.197
26	3	Austin Dillon		Dow Packaging/H-E-B	195.496	27.622	–0.201
27	1	Jamie McMurray		CESSNA	195.334	27.645	–0.224
28	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr		Fastenal Ford Fusion	195.157	27.670	–0.249
29	6	Trevor Bayne		Advocare Ford Fusion	195.143	27.672	–0.251
30	47	AJ Allmendinger		Kroger/Scott Products	194.735	27.730	–0.309
31	7	Alex Bowman		Nikko RC / Toy State	194.644	27.743	–0.322
32	9	Sam Hornish Jr		Sonic	194.623	27.746	–0.325
33	95	Michael McDowell		Tommy Williams Drywall	193.472	27.911	–0.490
34	26	J.J. Yeley		Overture Promotions	192.940	27.988	–0.567
35	34	Brett Moffitt		Visit Dallas	192.651	28.030	–0.609
36	40	Landon Cassill		CRC/O’Reilly Auto Parts	192.445	28.060	–0.639
37	46	Michael Annett		Pilot Flying J	192.328	28.077	–0.656
38	83	Matt DiBenedetto		Dustless Blasting	192.273	28.085	–0.664
39	35	Cole Whitt		Moen	191.591	28.185	–0.764
40	23	Jeb Burton		Dr. Pepper/Estes	191.537	28.193	–0.772
41	38	David Gilliland		Love’s Travel Stops	191.245	28.236	–0.815
42	98	Ryan Preece		Xyience	190.691	28.318	–0.897
43	51	Justin Allgaier		Texas Lottery	189.587	28.483	–1.062
44	32	Joey Gase		ZAK PRODUCTS – DONATE LIFE TEXAS	190.617	28.329	–0.908
45	62	Reed Sorenson		TBA	187.865	28.744	–1.323

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