Keselowski had the fastest speed in Saturday’s final round of qualifying at the 1.366-mile asphalt track at 178.874 mph, which was slightly faster than Kurt Busch, who clocked in at 177.588 mph.
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“We had a really good Miller High Life Ford and (crew chief) Paul Wolfe made good adjustments each round,” Keselowski told NBC Sports. “The track was changing and the car was falling off as the tires were falling off and it is hot so the track was hard to get ahold of but the car is fast and my team did a great job.”
Defending race winner Kevin Harvick will start on the inside of Row 2. Keselowski’s teammate Joey Logano will roll off fourth.
“All the Team Penske cars were pretty fast,” Logano said. “We were just a little free all of qualifying there. We just never jumped the fence with it.”
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Kyle Busch, who was forced to a backup car after crashing in Friday practice , will start 10th as he looks to master NASCAR’s low downforce package the same way he did at Kentucky .
Green flag for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 will fall at 7:20 p.m. ET Sunday . Drivers face 367 laps at the track termed “Too Tough to Tame,” that includes narrowing by 17 feet in Turns 3 and 4.
Starting lineup for the Southern 500 at Darlington
Josh Wise, Timmy Hill and Travis Kvapil failed to qualify.
