NASCAR Kentucky 2014 qualifying results: Brad Keselowski leads Team Penske sweep

It was a lap so fast that it left no doubt who would be the No. 1 qualifier for Saturday’s NASCAR race at Kentucky Speedway. Nearing an average of 189 mph, Brad Keselowski sped to the Quaker State 400 pole and further cemented Team Penske’s qualifying dominance.

The pole was Keselowski’s third of the season and his ninth front-row start in 17 races. He shattered Dale Earnhardt Jr’s year-old track record by more than 5 mph.

Prior to 2014, Keselowski had three poles in 160 races.

“The last few years we’ve been awful in qualifying, so yin and yang, it’s balancing back out,” Keselowski said. “It’s a huge morale booster for us and we’ve got to make it count on race day. Qualifying is great, but on Monday nobody talks about who won the pole -- they talk about who won the race. We want to be that guy.”

Joining Keselowski on the front row is teammate Joey Logano, who was fastest in the first two sessions Friday before Keselowski eclipsed him in the final round. Overall, Penske drivers have qualified second or better on 12 occasions in 2014 and swept the top two positions at Phoenix and Las Vegas.

“We won the first two sessions and I’m like, ‘Man, isn’t it going to rain?’” Logano said. “It didn’t rain and we came in second.”

The winner of the previous five oval track races, Hendrick Motorsports, struggled in qualifying. The lone exception was Jeff Gordon, who starts third Saturday. Teammates Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson and Earnhardt posted the 20th-, 25th- and 29th-fastest times, respectively.

“We were slow in practice,” Earnhardt said. “We’ve been fighting the car all day and haven’t had any gains. We haven’t been able to figure out what we need to do. But we just haven’t had good speed.”

Said Johnson: “We made a qualifying run at the end of practice and went slower than our race run, so it’s discouraging coming into qualifying. We didn’t get the lap that we needed out there and didn’t transfer. But I feel actually decent about our car in race trim.”

Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray, Kurt Busch and Danica Patrick rounded out the top 10 qualifiers.

All 42 drivers entered qualified.