Brad Keselowski wins pole for playoff race No. 2 at Richmond
Brad Keselowski is on a pole run.
Keselowski entered the July race at New Hampshire without a pole in nearly two years since he started first for the August 2017 race at Michigan. He won the pole for that race, won the pole at Michigan a few weeks later and won the pole Friday for Saturday night’s race at Richmond.
That’s three poles in the span of nine races after going 68 races without one.
“We had phenomenal short-run speed here with the Discount Tire Ford the last two or three years,” Keselowski said. “We haven’t necessarily qualified all that well but when the race comes we get the short runs and we can gain some steam. It showed here in qualifying.
Keselowski finished seventh at Richmond in the spring. Martin Truex Jr. won Sunday’s playoff-opener at Las Vegas with a car that was much better on long runs. Will a short-run car or a long-run car pay off at Richmond on Saturday night?
The safe bet — on the surface — would be a long-run car. There hasn’t been a race at Richmond with more than eight cautions since the spring race at the track in 2013. The race earlier this season had five cautions and the 2018 September race had just three — two for the stage breaks and one for a crash with fewer than 100 laps to go.
Kevin Harvick starts second while Chase Elliott will start third. Kyle Busch, the driver who won in the spring at Richmond, starts fourth while Clint Bowyer starts fifth.
Qualifying results
1. Brad Keselowski
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Chase Elliott
4. Kyle Busch
5. Clint Bowyer
6. Denny Hamlin
7. Aric Almirola
8. Martin Truex Jr.
9. Kurt Busch
10. Jimmie Johnson
11. Michael McDowell
12. Matt DiBenedetto
13. Kyle Larson
14. Daniel Suarez
15. Ryan Blaney
16. Erik Jones
17. Austin Dillon
18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
19. Ryan Newman
20. Alex Bowman
21. Ryan Preece
22. Daniel Hemric
23. Chris Buescher
24. Paul Menard
25. William Byron
26. Matt Tifft
27. David Ragan
28. Joey Logano
29. Corey LaJoie
30. Bubba Wallace
31. Ty Dillon
32. Ross Chastain
33. JJ Yeley
34. Austin Theriault
35. Reed Sorenson
36. Landon Cassill
37. Spencer Boyd
38. Quin Houff
Playoff standings
1. Martin Truex Jr. [Win at Las Vegas]
2. Kevin Harvick, 2,079 points
3. Joey Logano, 2,075
4. Kyle Busch, 2,063
5. Brad Keselowski, 2,058
6. Chase Elliott, 2,057
7. Denny Hamlin, 2,056
8. Kyle Larson, 2,044
9. William Byron, 2,040
10. Ryan Blaney, 2,039
11. Alex Bowman, 2,037
12. Aric Almirola, 2,033
13. Ryan Newman, 2,027
14. Kurt Busch, 2,019
15. Clint Bowyer, 2,012
16. Erik Jones, 2,007
– – – – – – –
Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
More from Yahoo Sports:
