BUSCH

• Keselowski takes Nationwide pole at New Hampshire

  Loudon, NH (Sports Network) - Brad Keselowski will start on the pole for Saturday's New England 200 Nationwide Series race after topping Carl Edwards in qualifying at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

  Keselowski, who currently holds a 237-point lead over Edwards, turned a lap of 129.657 m.p.h. around the flat 1.058-mile oval for his third pole of the season and the sixth of his Nationwide career.

  "This is a great start, but we still have a long way to go, even just today," Keselowski said. "This is a tough race. Having a good car like we have today hopefully should get us to that next level." Keselowski will attempt to become the 24th different winner in as many Nationwide races at New Hampshire.

  Edwards qualified 0.03 seconds behind Keselowski to capture the outside pole.

  Kevin Harvick took the third spot, while Kyle Busch, the defending race winner, and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top-five.

  Busch is making his first Nationwide start since four weeks ago at Charlotte, where he picked up his series-leading fifth win of the season.

  Steve Wallace qualified sixth, followed by Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Justin Lofton and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

  Danica Patrick struggled in Friday's practice sessions at New Hampshire, but improved with a 25th-place qualifying effort. Patrick will make her fourth Nationwide start, but her first since February 27 at Las Vegas.

  "Just considering how it felt, I guess I should be a little bit happier with it," she said. "To go a little bit quicker than yesterday, I guess is a good thing.

  It's always nice when your quickest lap of the weekend is in qualifying." Charles Lewandoski and Chris Lawson failed to qualify.

  The 200-lap race at New Hampshire is scheduled to start around 3:30 p.m.

  06/26 12:16:55 ET