LOUDON, N.H. — Brad Keselowski will start the second race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship the way he ended the first one – out front.

Keselowski turned a track-record lap of 140.598 mph Friday to win the pole at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Keselowski is coming off consecutive victories at Richmond and the Chase for the Sprint Cup opener last week at Chicagoland. He swept the Cup and Nationwide races at New Hampshire in July.

The Team Penske driver has five poles this season and leads the series with five victories. He has eight poles in 189 career Sprint Cup starts.

“This kind of track is kind of right in my wheelhouse, right in our team’s wheelhouse,” Keselowski said. “We had this race circled before the Chase started and we felt decent about Chicago, but really felt like this was a race of emphasis for us to get a win and get out of the first bracket.”

Jamie McMurray, a non-Chase driver, was second. Chase drivers took the next seven spots. Kevin Harvick was third, followed by Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano, Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman.

Chase drivers Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon took 11th to 13th. Kurt Busch is 15th, Matt Kenseth 16th and Kasey Kahne 17th. Aric Almirol starts 22nd and Greg Biffle had the worst qualifying effort of any Chase driver and will start 26th.

Tony Stewart will start 28th in the No. 14 Chevrolet, his second-worst qualifying run of the season.

Stewart was in the car for the first time since he learned a grand jury will decide his fate in the fatal sprint car crash in upstate New York.

Kyle Larson was 10th and was the fastest qualifying rookie.

“I don’t think anybody has anything for Brad right now,” Larson said. “It’s pretty amazing how fast he is everywhere we go.”

Larson finished third at Chicagoland and one of NASCAR’s top rookies still believed he could finish the season with his first career Sprint Cup win.

Many of NASCAR’s elite drivers, from Gordon to Stewart, have long been wowed by the natural speed, talent and versatility flashed by the 22-year-old Larson. Gordon even came over to Larson last week moment after the race ended to offer some advice on restarts.

Gordon – and so many others – believe Larson will win soon.

Especially Larson.

“Yeah, every race I will sit in the motorhome and watch TV and flip to Twitter. Everybody always says this is your weekend,” Larson said. “I believe them, but it kind of sucks when you don’t win. But I definitely feel like we are really close. We have been close a couple of times this year.”

Keselowski is trying to become the first driver to repeat at New Hampshire since Kurt Busch in 2004 and would end a streak of 13 different winners in the last 13 races at NHMS. Keselowski has four (Phoenix, Dover, Kentucky) of the 19 track records set this season.

• Stewart stepped over the pit road wall, signed a few autographs on a brisk walk to a golf cart and was whisked away from the track.

Out of championship contention, Stewart was never a threat to win the pole Friday at New Hampshire. He’ll start 28th in the No. 14 Chevrolet, his second-worst qualifying run of the season.

Stewart was in the car for the first time since he learned a grand jury will decide his fate in the fatal sprint car crash in upstate New York.

Ontario County District Attorney Michael Tantillo said Tuesday he made the decision to present the case to a grand jury after reviewing evidence collected by sheriff’s investigators. Tantillo could have determined there was not enough evidence to support charges and dropped the case, but instead announced his decision more than a month after Stewart’s car struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr. at a dirt-track race Aug. 9.

Stewart has remained quiet since making a brief statement when he returned to the track three races ago at Atlanta. Some in the NASCAR garage are eager to see a resolution and learn more about the case.

“It kind of feels a little bit like a cop out that they send it to the grand jury,” Keselowski said. “I think everybody is wishing Tony the best and supporting him, and that’s probably the most important thing.”

Stewart spent three weeks in seclusion before returning for the final two races of the Sprint Cup season. He did not make the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field, and finished 18th in the first Chase race Sunday at Chicagoland.

FORMULA ONE: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in practice for the Singapore Grand Prix on Friday, while teammate and title rival Nico Rosberg and defending champion Sebastian Vettel both had setbacks.