LOUDON, N.H. — Kyle Busch went from upside down to top of the field.

Busch continued a season-long trend of track-record qualifying speeds, turning a lap of 138.130 mph Friday to win the pole at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

It’s the second pole of the season for Busch, who will be joined on the front row by reigning Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson for Sunday’s race.

Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart and Jamie McMurray completed the top five. Points leader Jeff Gordon starts 11th.

Busch won the pole a week after he rolled over at Daytona. He was involved in a 25-car wreck that ended with Busch getting flipped upside-down in his No. 18 Toyota.

“I thought it was a little bit tight, but I guess I was driving through it enough that it was still carrying good speed,” Busch said of his car. “Lap felt good. It didn’t feel that good, but it felt good.”

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It was the 13th track record set in qualifying this season.

“We knew the track record was going to fall, especially at one of the places where testing started,” Johnson said. “I was very optimistic coming into qualifying today. I thought I had enough to get it there. Then I saw Kyle’s lap. He definitely put one down.”

Busch had a pair of runner-up finishes last season at New Hampshire. He has one career win at the track.

Morgan Shepherd, 72, made the race when a 44th entry dropped out. In the No. 33 Chevrolet, he’ll extend his mark as the oldest driver to start a Sprint Cup race. Shepherd finished 43rd at Phoenix in his only other race of the season.

Joey Logano qualified sixth in his backup No. 22 Ford following an accident in practice.

“For a backup car and making two laps on it before qualifying, I am proud of where we ended up,” he said. “I just wanted more.”

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Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski starts seventh.

“That sure is neat to see, for sure,” he said. “We joke about it all the time that we end up qualifying right next to each other. The consistency of the cars is amazing and it shows where we are at with drivers, too.”

TRUCKS: Erik Jones led for 131 of 200 laps at Newton, Iowa, giving Kyle Busch Motorsports its seventh win in nine races this season.

It’s the second career win for Jones, 18, and the sixth victory of 2014 for the No. 51 truck.

Ryan Blaney, 20, was second, followed by Matt Crafton, Joey Coulter and German Quiroga Jr.

Although Jones had the dominant truck, Blaney tracked him down near the end of the race. The pair even went side-by-side 16 laps from the finish, but Jones held off Blaney for his first win in 2014.

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Jones was the youngest winner in series history last season in Phoenix.

Crafton took the points lead from Johnny Sauter by finishing third. Blaney moved into second place, two points back.

Blaney thought he could catch Jones in traffic, and the two drivers nearly spun each other while tangling by the start-finish line. But Jones held off Blaney’s best push, bucking a five-race trend in which the driver who led the majority of the race at Iowa didn’t win.

INDYCAR: Scott Dixon will start from the pole for Saturday night at Iowa Speedway, and will be joined on the front row by Target Chip Ganassi teammate Tony Kanaan.

Helio Castroneves qualified third, followed by Ryan Briscoe, Carlos Munoz and Sebastien Bourdais.


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