Gordon, who heads into the race Sunday ranked 12th in the Sprint Cup standings, ran a lap at 134.911 mph in qualifying Friday. Busch was second, at 134.753 mph, and defending series champion Tony Stewart was third.
''We'll have a good pit spot and hopefully we can keep that track position all day and not have to beat our car up trying to get up there,'' Stewartsaid.
Gordon, who barely qualified for the Chase, is hoping a strong finish in New Hampshire will help him overcome a 35th-place finish in Chicago, when he hit the wall with about 80 laps to go. He was the only one of the 12 Chase drivers who didn't finish in the top 18.
