With his first Coors Light Pole of the season, Brad Keselowski gave his team the No. 1 pit pick. The No. 2 Penske Racing team chose the No. 1 stall at pit out, heading to Turn 1.

Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 team, which had its second-fastest time in qualifying disallowed for being too low in post-session inspection, dropped to 43rd for Sunday’s Camping World RV Sales 301 (1 p.m. ET, TNT). The team chose the 12th pit stall. They’re in a Roush Fenway Racing sandwich, in between Greg Biffle’s No. 16 team and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s No. 17.

Kurt Busch, who will roll off second in Sunday’s race, chose the 31st stall, on the Turn 4 side of the start/finish line, with an opening behind him. In the 32nd stall, with an opening in front, is the No. 88 of Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Other cars with openings are the No. 11 of Denny Hamlin and the No. 24 of Jeff Gordon, who straddle an opening between stalls 18 and 19 on the Turn 1 side of start/finish. The No. 31 of Jeff Burton and the No. 18 of Kyle Busch are three stalls toward Turn 4 off of the granite finish line with an opening between them. At the end of pit road, two stalls off of pit in, Kasey Kahne’s No. 5 and Matt Kenseth’s No. 20 have stalls 41 and 42. Stall 43, the first onto pit road, will be occupied by the No. 99 Carl Edwards team.

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LOUDON, N.H.– Brad Keselowski didn’t think his lap was fast enough.

Jimmie Johnson was late to the grid after trouble getting through inspection.

Kurt Busch hit the rev limiter entering the first corner.

Nevertheless, those three drivers were to lead the field to the green flag in Sunday’s Camping World RV Sales 301 (1 p.m. ET, TNT) after sweeping the top three starting spots in track-record time during Friday’s time trials at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

That, at least, was what was supposed to happen, before Johnson’s inspection issues continued after qualifying and the time of the No. 48 Chevrolet was disallowed after the front of the car failed the height stick test on both sides — with both sides registering too low.

As a result, Johnson will start the race from the 43^rd position.

Even without the competition from Johnson, the Cup series leader, the qualifying performance was particularly gratifying to Keselowski, who edged Johnson for the pole by. .004 seconds before Johnson’s time was disallowed.

The reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion has been struggling to finish races of late and has slipped out of the top 12 in the series standings, placing his Chase hopes in jeopardy.

"We’ve had the speed and we can get the execution, and things are starting to come together," said Keselowski, who picked up his first Coors Light pole award of the season, his second at Loudon and the third of his career.

"There’s not a better time for it to happen, and I’m really excited about it… If we can just close it out — we had a great car at Daytona (last Saturday) and I didn’t close it out at the end, and we had a great car at several other places and I didn’t close it out. That’s what it’s all about in this sport."

Keselowski negotiated the Magic Mile in 28.022 seconds (135.922 mph). Kurt Busch (135.835 mph) will start beside him on the front row, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. (135.786 mph), Kyle Busch (135.757 mph) and Jeff Gordon (135.525 mph).

All told, nine drivers broke Ryan Newman’s mark of 28.165 seconds (135.232 mph), set July 15, 2011.

Johnson was getting antsy as his team had to correct a problem with the length one of the side skirts and get the weight of the car right before NASCAR would clear the No. 48 Chevrolet for qualifying.

"We cut it close on time," said Johnson, who was on the five-minute clock when he got to the grid. "I tried to get my heart rate down, took a few deep breaths and fired it off, went off and had a nice lap. The car drove really good, and missed it by a few thousandths for the pole."

In reality, they missed it by a notch or two on the height stick.

Busch didn’t encounter any issues until he took the green flag.

"I drove down into (Turn) 1 and hit the rev chip so soon that I thought the guys missed the setting on the rev chip," Busch said. "It can mean two things. It can mean you’re going really fast, or it can mean it’s set improperly.

"Luckily, it was set properly, and we were just fast, but it threw my timing off. I really couldn’t quite figure out corner entry and it changed the way I applied the brake and I just had to adjust. But it was such a weird lap. I was expecting (crew chief) Todd (Berrier) to tell me that we were going to be 20^th and he said that we ran a .05 (actually 28.040 seconds).

"I was like, ‘Hey, if we can screw up that big and have that much fun while we’re screwing up and be third, we’ll take it.’"

Earnhardt may have had the fastest car of all, but he ran through a weeper (water seeping up through the track) coming to the green. Nevertheless, he was only .028 seconds off the pole speed.

"I ran through the water there, and the car kind of slid out about half a car length and messed the line up on exit and really never got on the throttle the way we could have," Earnhardt said. "I might have under-drove the entrance (to the corner) a little bit, which put me through the water. I should have run around it, but I was just a little lower than I planned on being at that particular part of the race track.

"Car’s been fast all day; been real happy in race trim. (Crew chief) Steve (Letarte) and the guys have done a great job bringing an awesome car. Hopefully, we can get to work on it tomorrow and make it a race winner."

Morgan Shepherd posted the 42^nd fastest time in qualifying. When he takes the green flag on Sunday at age 71, he will be the oldest driver to start a Cup race, superseding Jim Fitzgerald, who was 65 when he raced at Riverside in 1987.

Shepherd started his first Cup race June 20, 1970 at Hickory (N.C.), before all but eight other drivers in the starting field for Sunday’s race were born.

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At least for now.

“I just never felt like that was something I needed or wanted to do,’’ Patrick said of the magazine opportunity. “A lot of the stuff that I’ve done that has been scantily clad has all been swimsuit stuff. I was also asked to do the painted section (of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue) … I asked one of my most liberal friends if I should do it and she was like, ‘um, that’s naked right?’

“Would I feel comfortable? I’m sure it’d be a little bit borderline. There’s a difference to me between going to the beach and wearing a swimming suit and going to the beach and wearing nothing or paint. That’s just pushing the limit a little bit.’’

But, Patrick added, “I’m not saying there will never be a day. When I speak to them, and they ask me each time, I say, ‘Don’t stop asking. I don’t know. I might change my mind one year.’

“It might be something that parallels something else I’m doing or where I’m at or how I’m feeling. But just not right now.’’

The Sprint Cup Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender was in good spirits tackling a broad array of topics.

After re-watching video of the final lap multi-car accident at Daytona, she decided that she did trigger the incident while trying a final push through the field on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s bumper.

“I went back to my bus and watched it, and I was like, ‘I did follow the 88 (Earnhardt) and that is why I came down.’ So I was just not aware enough of my surroundings, not aware enough that we were turning down the track in the tri-oval that much. …’’ said Patrick, who finished 14^th — one of her better showings on the year.

“So I went and told David (Gilliland) I was sorry, and I’m really sorry. I not only feel bad that it started the accident, but I lost five spots doing it. By no means was it me trying to be tough or move. I had enough momentum to finish ninth.

“But it was my fault. I’m just trying to explain to you how little I thought I did, but when you’re running 200 miles an hour, it doesn’t take much.’’

Patrick will have a completely different set of challenges making her Sprint Cup debut on the tough 1-mile oval. She rolls off 32^nd on the grid Sunday and was surprised to learn of the historic footnote of becoming the first woman to compete at NASCAR’s highest level here.

“These are not things I’m aware of,’’ Patrick said. “It seems like an odd stat. But being the first to do things is something that’s happened quite a few times but nothing that I keep track of.

“And on my quest as a driver to be the best driver as possible and as fast as possible and run really well, I guess these are just things that happen.’’

She also seemed genuinely happy at Friday morning’s announcement that Kevin Harvick will be her Stewart-Haas Racing teammate beginning in 2014. Like so many, she had heard the rumors for a long while.

“More than anything, it’s just nice to be able to get planning and get moving and have everybody moving in that direction,’’ Patrick said. “He’s a really good guy. He’s helped me from the beginning when I was running Nationwide. I’m really excited about him coming over and I think we’re going to have a lot of fun.’’

As the interview session was closing out, Patrick talked about her off-week plans — attending the ESPY Awards in Los Angeles next Wednesday and an upcoming wedding. Not hers to boyfriend and fellow rookie candidate Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

“Somebody else’s wedding,’’ Patrick said grinning. “No, I didn’t just drop a big bomb right there.’’

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“We’re not ready to expand to a fourth team,’’ Stewart said. “Unfortunately, this will be the last year we have Ryan. That’s probably what’s made this a bittersweet day. I’m bringing in another of one of my friends to the organization, but I’m also … losing a friend at the end of the year to the organization."

Newman reiterated Stewart’s pledge that the two remain committed to a “great” friendship even if they won’t be working alongside one another anymore. That was also discussed at length when they spoke earlier in the week.

“I can’t say I’m happy with the way everything unfolded,’’ Newman said. “I know there are business decisions and sometimes business decisions trump friendships — and I don’t feel like that was the case.

“In the end, I’m happy with the three wins that I’ve had so far with Stewart-Haas and the performance of the cars and everything. There will be a change for me in 2014 and I don’t know what that change is.

“I do not know what my future holds. I have no idea right now. And I had no idea at this time last year. That’s something that weighs on my shoulders and I have a little homework to do right now.

“That’s part of racing and that’s part of the situation I’m in.”

Newman said he had not even spoken with other teams yet, despite the fact he always knew he was  “free agent” at the end of this season anyway. He had hoped to re-sign with Stewart-Haas, but said this week, the most important thing is finding a competitive situation with a team that really wants him.

“There are organizations out there that are capable of winning championships and capable of racing into the Chase to give themselves an opportunity at a championship,’’ Newman said. “It’s obvious that there are some seats that will be coming available.

“To me, I first and foremost want to be wanted for my ability behind the wheel as well as what I can do for the sponsors and it’s not easy out there right now. I want to be someplace where I’m wanted and have common goals of winning the championships.

“I’ve been really focused on this year and at this time of the season, the silly gets even sillier. You never know what becomes available.’’

Newman, whose No. 39 WIX Filters Chevy was among the fastest during practice Friday at New Hampshire, is ranked 16th going into Sunday’s Camping World RV Sales 301 (1 p.m. ET, TNT) at the 1.058-mile oval. He’s only 17 points behind 10th place (Stewart) and a guaranteed position in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup postseason.

And his eight top-10s — including one last week at Daytona — are best among the current Stewart-Haas Racing drivers, himself, Stewart and rookie Danica Patrick.

Newman, 35, conceded there will be a lot of elements to finding his place with a new organization. And Stewart was adamant he would “do everything I can to help Ryan anyway I can moving forward in his effort to find another team next year.’’

Added Stewart: “I’m behind him 100 percent, I believe in him 100 percent and I wish we were able to facilitate four teams at this time but we’re just not able to do that."

As for Newman, the only driver with a college engineering degree, he says it’s time to start doing “homework.”

“As an engineer we don’t like to use the word ‘cobble’ together, but it takes everything: a good team with the right resources, the financial side of it and a driver that can drive the rocket,’’ Newman said. “That’s part of the homework getting it all together and then you throw into that the right personalities and putting people together.

“I want to be competitive. I’m not going to go out there just go find a ride, I want to find a ride with someone who has the same goals and expectations as I do.’’

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