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Hamlin claims California pole

Denny Hamlin claimed his first pole position of the season in qualifying for the Pepsi 500 at Fontana

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver set a fastest lap of 39.158 seconds at an average speed of 183.870 mph, which stayed at the top of the leaderboard despite Hamlin being just the third driver in the order to complete his run.

"That was a great pick up for us," said Hamlin, who had been 27th in practice before qualifying. "We didn't expect that after how poorly we practiced. The good part about that is that when you run so horribly in practice you kind of throw anything you got at it, and that's what we did and we just came up with a great set-up."

David Reutimann benefited from running late in the order and got the closest to Hamlin, but still was nearly two tenths off pole, initially bumping Greg Biffle from the front row of the grid.

However his times were disallowed after his car failed technical inspection, the rear shock absorber of his Toyota exceeding the maximum gas pressure allowed by the rulebook. He will start Sunday's race from 42nd on the grid.

Because of Reutimann's issue in inspection, Biffle will start from the front row, while reigning champion Jimmie Johnson, who had the latest draw for qualifying among the Chase contenders, still came nearly three tenths of a second short of Hamlin's benchmark and will see the green flag wave from third.

Juan Pablo Montoya will start fourth beside Johnson, despite brushing the wall at the exit of Turn 4. The Colombian had dominated practice earlier in the day, setting the pace by more than two tenths of a second over the Hendrick duo of Johnson and Martin.

Montoya is expected to remain in his primary car for Sunday's race despite the damage to the right side of his Chevy.

"I was just too loose on the power out of four," Montoya said. "It was like loose loose, loose! I gave it a little more, thinking it could take it, and it just got too far out. Hey, it is one lap. I just ran out of talent I guess."

Martin Truex Jr will start fifth beside rookie Joey Logano while the Childress duo of Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer will make up the fourth row of the grid.

Chase leader Mark Martin ended up ninth in the order, right ahead of play-off contenders Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards - both previous winners at Fontana. Meanwhile Ryan Newman was the lowest qualifier among the Chasers in 36th.

Joe Nemechek was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 13th, while Tony Raines and Mike Wallace failed to qualify for Sunday's race.

Pos  Driver              Make        Speed     Time
 1.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota      183.870   39.158 
 2.  Greg Biffle         Ford        182.704   39.408 + 0.250
 3.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet   182.635   39.423 + 0.265
 4.  Juan Montoya        Chevrolet   182.315   39.492 + 0.334
 5.  Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet   182.246   39.507 + 0.349
 6.  Joey Logano         Toyota      182.223   39.512 + 0.354
 7.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet   182.182   39.521 + 0.363
 8.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet   182.002   39.560 + 0.402
 9.  Mark Martin         Chevrolet   181.979   39.565 + 0.407
10.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet   181.717   39.622 + 0.464
11.  Carl Edwards        Ford        181.644   39.638 + 0.480
12.  A.J. Allmendinger   Dodge       181.420   39.687 + 0.529
13.  Joe Nemechek        Toyota      181.383   39.695 + 0.537
14.  David Stremme       Dodge       181.346   39.703 + 0.545
15.  Max Papis           Toyota      181.305   39.712 + 0.554
16.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet   181.214   39.732 + 0.574
17.  Matt Kenseth        Ford        181.137   39.749 + 0.591
18.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet   181.096   39.758 + 0.600
19.  Kyle Busch          Toyota      181.032   39.772 + 0.614
20.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet   180.968   39.786 + 0.628
21.  Scott Speed         Toyota      180.945   39.791 + 0.633
22.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dodge       180.868   39.808 + 0.650
23.  Mike Bliss          Dodge       180.846   39.813 + 0.655
24.  Kurt Busch          Dodge       180.773   39.829 + 0.671
25.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge       180.741   39.836 + 0.678
26.  Regan Smith         Chevrolet   180.650   39.856 + 0.698
27.  Marcos Ambrose      Toyota      180.632   39.860 + 0.702
28.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge       180.591   39.869 + 0.711
29.  Jamie McMurray      Ford        180.523   39.884 + 0.726
30.  David Gilliland     Chevrolet   180.523   39.884 + 0.726
31.  David Ragan         Ford        180.510   39.887 + 0.729
32.  Brian Vickers       Toyota      180.288   39.936 + 0.778
33.  Dave Blaney         Toyota      180.144   39.968 + 0.810
34.  Michael Waltrip     Toyota      179.910   40.020 + 0.862
35.  Bobby Labonte       Ford        179.672   40.073 + 0.915
36.  Ryan Newman         Chevrolet   179.270   40.163 + 1.005
37.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet   179.140   40.192 + 1.034
38.  Robby Gordon        Toyota      178.496   40.337 + 1.179
39.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge       178.372   40.365 + 1.207
40.  John Andretti       Chevrolet   178.293   40.383 + 1.225
41.  Paul Menard         Ford        177.804   40.494 + 1.336
42.  David Reutimann     Toyota      183.108   39.321 + 0.163
43.  Michael McDowell    Toyota      179.033   40.216 + 1.058

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