Qualifying: Gordon does it again

The 29-year-old Hendrick Motorsports star drove his Chevrolet around the two mile circuit in 1m16.842s, outshining road course specialist Rusty Wallace, who was three tenths of a second back in the Penske South Racing Ford. It was Gordon's 37th pole in his career and his third in four years at Sears Point.

"It was a great day for us," he said. "I attacked the race track but I tried to figure out the best way to bring it home and it happened to be the pole."

Tony Stewart was the leading Pontiac runner after scoring the third fastest time, while reigning Winston Cup champion and Stewart's team mate at Joe Gibbs Racing, Bobby Labonte, was fourth quickest. Ward Burton was the fastest of the Dodge cars and will start Sunday's race in fifth, with the sister Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Jerry Nadeau rounding out the top six.

Winner of last week's race at Pocono, Ricky Rudd could only post the 22nd fastest time, while Ron Fellows, who drove a Corvette to a GTS class win at Le Mans just six days ago, was 13th in his Chevrolet.

For full qualifying results, click here.