Brad Keselowski wrong on prediction but all right in Kobalt 400 qualifying

Brad Keselowski races during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup auto race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday, March 10, 2017, in Las Vegas. Keselowski won the pole position. (AP Photo/Steve Marcus)

Brad Keselowski poses with the award after winning the pole during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup auto race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday, March 10, 2017, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Steve Marcus)

Brad Keselowski swore he wasn’t telling alternate facts about what it would take to win the pole position for Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“You’ve got to get through the bump in (turns) 1 and 2,” Roger Penske’s driver said Friday as the fast cars waited to go out for their third and final qualifying run at the 1.5-mile oval. “If you miss it just a little bit, you’re going to be in big trouble.”

Keselowski said he missed it by a lot in 1 and 2.

He made up for it in 3 and 4.

“(Pit reporter) Matt Yocum asked me what the key was here, and I told him you’re gonna have to have a good 1 and 2. That’s the most important corner, and, boy, did I lie to him. I can promise you it wasn’t meant to be a lie, but we’ll take it either way.”

It was bump on the front side and then run like hellish bats on the back side for the driver of the No. 2 Miller Ford, who earned his first pole position in nine tries at LVMS with a speed of 193.680 mph. That was a tick faster than Martin Truex Jr., who will start alongside in the front row with a fast lap of 193.458.

“Somebody told me we hit 207 mph” in the speed traps. “That’s getting around this place,” said Keselowski, who won last year’s race at LVMS and two of the past three and is coming off a victory at Atlanta he inherited when Kevin Harvick was penalized for speeding.

“This is a tough place to get around, though, especially with the lower downforce package.”

A few fractions of a second were all that kept Truex from winning the pole.

“Three-hundredths of a second too slow,” shrugged the steady Toyota driver. “We guessed the track was going to be faster than it was. We missed it (setup) by a little bit tonight.”

Those who missed it by a little more were Las Vegans Kyle Busch (ninth, 192.362), older brother Kurt (17th, 192.089), seven-time Cup series and four-time Las Vegas race winner Jimmie Johnson (16th, 192.267), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (18th, 192.068) and series points leader Kevin Harvick (19th, 191.700)

Keselowski said it was a little easier to explain his recent LVMS success than it was his pole-winning run.

“When we came here in ’09 … I think it was my third career start, and I wrecked on the first lap,” said the Michigan driver with a toothy grin. “I think there are certain tracks that you go to where things just kind of happen immediately, and you understand the track, and you’re really good there.

“And then there are some tracks — and Vegas was this way for me — where it takes three or four times, and specifically it takes a good car, and then going, ‘Oh, that’s how it should be here.’”

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.