Vickers Takes Pole at Fontana, Will Start Last

Brian Vickers started the weekend off right by winning the pole for Sunday's Auto Club 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at California Speedway. His speed of 183.439 mph just edged out Jimmie Johnson who qualified second. Vickers is eager to put the controversial incident with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in last week's Daytona 500 behind him. Unfortunately, Vickers will have to start at the rear of the field after the team found problems with the engine and opted to replace it with another.

Qualifying third was Jamie McMurray's Ford; fourth was Kurt Busch, and Greg Biffle fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Jeff Gordon, David Reutimann, A.J. Allmendinger, rookie Scott Speed and finally Kyle Busch.

Tony Stewart was 11th fastest, Mark Martin 18th, Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth qualified 24th, rookie Joey Logano 34th and Dale Earnhardt Jr. 35th.

Those failing to qualify include Todd Bodine, Tony Raines, David Starr, Sterling Marlin, and Mike Garvey.

Kyle Busch won the pole for Saturday's San Bernardino County 200 NASCAR Camping World Series Truck race.