Playoff driver Brad Keselowski has won the provisional pole for Saturday’s Cup Series playoff race at Richmond Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN).
He claimed the pole with a speed of 127.185 mph.
The starting lineup will be finalized tomorrow after pre-race inspection. One failure will result in a qualifying time being disallowed. Should it be made official it will be Keselowski’s third pole of the season, his most since earning three in 2015.
“I didn’t know what to expect, we didn’t do a qualifying run in practice, but we’ve had phenomenal short-run speed here,” Keselowski told NBCSN. “Haven’t necessarily qualified all that well but when the race comes we get the short runs and and we can really make some steam.”
The top five is completed by playoff drivers Kevin Harvick, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer.
Jimmie Johnson (10th) was the highest qualifying non-playoff driver.
Where the rest of the playoff drivers qualified:
Denny Hamlin - sixth
Aric Almirola - seventh
Martin Truex Jr. - eighth
Kurt Busch - ninth
Kyle Larson - 13th
Ryan Blaney - 15th
Erik Jones - 16th
Ryan Newman - 19th
Alex Bowman - 20th
William Byron - 25th
Joey Logano - 28th