RICHMOND, Va. – Brad Keselowski snapped Kevin Harvick’s qualifying streak at Richmond Raceway on Friday evening ahead of the Federated Auto Parts 400.

Keselowski garnered the provisional pole at the three-quarter-mile oval with a lap of 21.229 seconds (127.185 mph) in the No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang.

The Michigan native and Team Penske driver was more than a tenth of a second faster than Kevin Harvick, who led much of the session but ended up second (21.334/126.559) in the final rundown.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Keselowski admitted. “We didn’t do a qualifying run in practice, but we’ve had phenomenal short run speed here with our Discount Tire Ford the last two or three years here and haven’t necessarily qualified all that well. But when the race comes, we get the short runs and we can really make some steam … and it showed that here in qualifying.

“I hope we have the long run speed (on Saturday), because I think there are going to be a lot of long runs for the race, but certainly qualifying up front and getting the first pit stall (and) those things to go with it is really great for our chances tomorrow,” he added. “It’s really exciting to get our third pole this year. We went all last year without a pole and this year we’ve got three. I’m proud of my team for that.”

Friday’s qualifying results will be finalized following pre-race inspection on Saturday afternoon.

Behind Keselowski and Harvick, Chase Elliott was the fastest Chevrolet driver in third, followed by the Toyota of Kyle Busch, which will line up fourth. Busch has won two of the last three Richmond Cup races.

Clint Bowyer completed the top five, ahead of Denny Hamlin, Aric Almirola, Martin Truex Jr. and Kurt Busch. Playoff drivers will occupy the first nine positions when the green flag drops Saturday night.

Jimmie Johnson was the top non-playoff driver in qualifying, and will start 10th.

Defending series champion Joey Logano was the lowest of the 16 playoff drivers on speed Friday. He’ll roll off a distant 28th in Saturday’s 400-lap, 300-mile event.

The Federated Auto Parts 400 goes green Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. ET, with live coverage on NBCSN, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

QUALIFYING RESULTS: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series; Richmond Raceway; Sept. 20, 2019

1. #2 – Brad Keselowski
2. #4 – Kevin Harvick
3. #9 – Chase Elliott
4. #18 – Kyle Busch
5. #14 – Clint Bowyer
6. #11 – Denny Hamlin
7. #10 – Aric Almirola
8. #19 – Martin Truex Jr.
9. #1 – Kurt Busch
10. #48 – Jimmie Johnson
11. #34 – Michael McDowell
12. #95 – Matt DiBenedetto
13. #42 – Kyle Larson
14. #41 – Daniel Suarez
15. #12 – Ryan Blaney
16. #20 – Erik Jones
17. #3 – Austin Dillon
18. #17 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
19. #6 – Ryan Newman
20. #88 – Alex Bowman
21. #47 – Ryan Preece
22. #8 – Daniel Hemric
23. #37 – Chris Buescher
24. #21 – Paul Menard
25. #24 – William Byron
26. #36 – Matt Tifft
27. #38 – David Ragan
28. #22 – Joey Logano
29. #32 – Corey LaJoie
30. #43 – Bubba Wallace
31. #13 – Ty Dillon
32. #15 – Ross Chastain
33. #52 – J.J. Yeley
34. #51 – Austin Theriault
35. #77 – Reed Sorenson
36. #00 – Landon Cassill
37. #53 – Spencer Boyd
38. #27 – Quin Houff