NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski beat his 2012 title rival Jimmie Johnson to pole position for Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Johnson, who holds a commanding lead in the current standings, was only on provisional pole for moments before next man out Keselowski’s Penske Ford produced a 28.022-second lap to beat the Hendrick Chevrolet by 0.004 seconds.

Kurt Busch slipped his Furniture Row Chevy in between Hendrick pair Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr to take third, while his brother Kyle was fifth for Joe Gibbs after holding pole for a spell.

Juan Pablo Montoya was 11th but will fall to the rear of the field for the Loudon race as he had to switch to a back-up car following a practice crash.

On the day that it was announced he would be losing his Stewart-Haas seat to Kevin Harvick in 2014, Ryan Newman outqualified team boss Tony Stewart by 0.02s in 16th, with Harvick another two places back.

Morgan Shepherd is poised to break the record for the oldest driver to start a Cup race. The 71-year-old put Brian Keselowski’s Toyota 42nd ahead of David Stremme, who crashed on his qualifying run.