BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Apparently there truly was no room at the inn this time when it came to Hendrick Motorsports attempting to find a place for Brad Keselowski on the Cup circuit beginning next season.

About the time Keselowski was winning the pole for Friday's Food City 250 Nationwide race at Bristol Motor Speedway, reports were swirling that Keselowski had agreed in principle to drive the No. 12 Dodge for Penske Racing next season. According to two published reports and additional sources, Keselowski is to replace David Stremme as driver of the car.

After winning the pole Friday, a grinning Keselowski was coy when asked about the reports.

"Ah, well, you know, I'm really not in a position to talk about any of that stuff right now. That's probably my biggest response. And I'm really not prepared to address any of the rumors about next year right now. I'm here to race the Nationwide car and I'm not going to let anything get in the way of that or distract me from that," Keselowski said.

Asked if he was still a free agent, Keselowski smiled widely and added: "Everybody's free. We live in a free country, so, yeah, I'm still free."

Jonathan Gibson, vice president of marketing for Penske Racing, said he could neither confirm nor deny the reports. But what he said appeared to speak volumes.

"It's no secret we've been talking with Brad. Roger Penske has a history of having great drivers [in the employment of Penske Racing]. Brad Keselowski is a great driver," Gibson said.

As part of the agreement, Keselowski presumably will cease to drive a Nationwide car for Jr. Motorsports at the end of this season as well.

In eight Cup starts this season, Keselowski has posted one win and three top-10s while driving mostly for Hendrick Motorsports -- which had hoped to lock him up for the future. Keselowski's one Cup win -- in April at Talladega -- came while he was driving for owner James Finch.

Shortly thereafter, owner Rick Hendrick said that he was involved in exclusive negotiations with Keselowski about his immediate future, and that he hoped to sign him for Hendrick Motorsports. But unlike when Hendrick declared "there was no room at the inn" early in negotiations to land Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the middle of the 2007 season and then backtracked on that comment, this time it appears Hendrick truly could find no spot that would satisfy Keselowski.

At issue, among other things, was the fact that Hendrick already fields four full-time Cup drivers in three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Earnhardt -- and NASCAR rules limit organizations to a cap of four teams, beginning next season. Hendrick had discussed putting together a very limited part-time schedule for Keselowski, which Hendrick said NASCAR had agreed to approve, but Keselowski wanted to go with an organization that could offer him a full-time Cup ride beginning in 2010.

In the Nationwide Series, Keselowski has a career-high three wins this season after his last-lap pass of Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch last week at Michigan. He's also surpassed his top-five total from last year by one with 12 in his first 23 starts this season and his 17 top-10s are just three off his career pace set a year ago. Keselowski is currently third in points.

Stremme has struggled in his first year with Penske. He's currently 31st in points and has yet to finish in the top 10. Last week he finished 13th in Michigan, tying his season-best finish earlier in the season at Fontana.