Vickers takes California Cup pole
Brian Vickers claimed pole position for Sunday's Auto Club 500 at Fontana California, while Jimmie Johnson will line up beside him on the front row
Vickers set a lap of 39.250 seconds at an average speed of 183.439 mph at the wheel of his Red Bull Toyota. Jimmie Johnson had easily dominated practice earlier in the day and looked set for a third consecutive pole at him home-race, but in the end Vickers' laptime was beyond reach for the Hendrick driver.
"We had a good car in practice but honestly I didn't think it was a pole car," Vickers said after claiming his teams' second ever pole position, his sixth in the Sprint Cup series. "We were a little too tight, we made some changes after practice which obviously worked really well and that car was just on rails in qualifying."
Johnson, who won last fall at California starting from the pole, seemed to have picked up where he left off at the two-mile oval but despite improving on his best lap from practice, he still came half a tenth short of Vickers' time.
"It was a good lap," said Johnson. "I missed (turns) one and two a little bit and I think that kind of hurt me in the end. The only other thing I can think of is (Brian) Vickers and I went to IN-N-OUT Burger last night and I had the double-double and he had a single. So for 5/100 of a second, I guess that extra patty killed me."
Jamie McMurray was best among the Roush Fenway racers in qualifying, followed by Kurt Busch, who was best among the Dodge runners, and former Fontana race-winner Greg Biffle.
"The car just didn't seem to have very much grip in qualifying trim this morning," said McMurray. "I thought we were one of the best cars in race trim of the 25 or so cars that did race trim.
"But, just qualifying wasn't there, but (crew chief) Donnie Wingo definitely earned his money today. I'm really excited that they were able to make those changes and get the car driving as well as it is."
Three-time winner at the track Jeff Gordon qualified sixth following a strong showing in practice, where he was second to teammate Jimmie Johnson despite slightly brushing the wall.
David Reutimann was seventh as one of four Toyota's in the top-ten, while AJ Allmendinger continued to impress in his Richard Petty Motorsports No. 44 Dodge, lining up eighth as the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers.
Fellow Californian and Rookie of the Year contender Scott Speed rounded up a strong qualifying effort for Red Bull Racing Team with the ninth fastest time, ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch.
Making the race on speed besides Allmendinger were Tony Stewart in 11th, Dave Blaney, TRG's David Gilliland outpacing his former Yates teammate Travis Kvapil, Scott Riggs, Jeremy Mayfield, and Joe Nemechek.
Meanwhile five other drivers didn't qualify for Sunday's race.
Pos Driver Make Speed Time 1. Brian Vickers Toyota 183.439 39.250 2. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 183.164 39.309 + 0.059 3. Jamie McMurray Ford 182.653 39.419 + 0.169 4. Kurt Busch Dodge 182.556 39.440 + 0.190 5. Greg Biffle Ford 182.302 39.495 + 0.245 6. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 182.209 39.515 + 0.265 7. David Reutimann Toyota 182.089 39.541 + 0.291 8. AJ Allmendinger Dodge 182.048 39.550 + 0.300 9. Scott Speed Toyota 181.965 39.568 + 0.318 10. Kyle Busch Toyota 181.919 39.578 + 0.328 11. Tony Stewart Chevrolet 181.901 39.582 + 0.332 12. Robby Gordon Toyota 181.777 39.609 + 0.359 13. David Ragan Ford 181.726 39.620 + 0.370 14. Marcos Ambrose Toyota 181.653 39.636 + 0.386 15. Juan Montoya Chevrolet 181.616 39.644 + 0.394 16. Bobby Labonte Ford 181.461 39.678 + 0.428 17. Reed Sorenson Dodge 181.429 39.685 + 0.435 18. Mark Martin Chevrolet 181.264 39.721 + 0.471 19. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 181.210 39.733 + 0.483 20. Elliott Sadler Dodge 181.173 39.741 + 0.491 21. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 181.137 39.749 + 0.499 22. Kasey Kahne Dodge 181.132 39.750 + 0.500 23. Denny Hamlin Toyota 180.836 39.815 + 0.565 24. Matt Kenseth Ford 180.818 39.819 + 0.569 25. Carl Edwards Ford 180.773 39.829 + 0.579 26. Sam Hornish Jr Dodge 180.746 39.835 + 0.585 27. Paul Menard Ford 180.610 39.865 + 0.615 28. Ryan Newman Chevrolet 180.397 39.912 + 0.662 29. Casey Mears Chevrolet 180.374 39.917 + 0.667 30. Dave Blaney Toyota 180.320 39.929 + 0.679 31. Aric Almirola Chevrolet 180.248 39.945 + 0.695 32. David Gilliland Chevrolet 180.234 39.948 + 0.698 33. Martin Truex Jr Chevrolet 180.176 39.961 + 0.711 34. Joey Logano Toyota 180.059 39.987 + 0.737 35. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 179.991 40.002 + 0.752 36. Scott Riggs Toyota 179.721 40.062 + 0.812 37. Travis Kvapil Ford 179.632 40.082 + 0.832 38. David Stremme Dodge 179.390 40.136 + 0.886 39. Jeremy Mayfield Toyota 179.301 40.156 + 0.906 40. John Andretti Chevrolet 179.287 40.159 + 0.909 41. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 179.109 40.199 + 0.949 42. Michael Waltrip Toyota - - 43. Joe Nemechek Toyota 177.997 40.450 + 1.200
Share Or Save This Story
Montoya's memories of a lost rival and rising star
Montoya: Vettel F1 2019 issues more likely technical than mentality
Leclerc reminds ex-Ferrari president di Montezemolo of young Lauda
NASCAR: Brian Vickers sidelined by blood clots again
NASCAR driver Brian Vickers cleared to return to racing
Vickers to miss start of 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup after heart surgery
Red Bull went against Verstappen's set-up feedback: “Sometimes they have to feel it”
What we learned from the 2026 F1 Canadian GP sprint race and qualifying
Verstappen reignites quit threats amid doubts over 2027 F1 rule changes
Update: Hamilton avoids Canadian GP grid penalty for impeding Gasly
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments