Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson is in a perfect spot to continue his success at Auto Club Speedway.
With one victory and three top-three finishes here in his last three starts, Johnson captured the pole for Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series Pepsi 500.
Despite his recent success, Johnson has just two wins at this two-mile oval. But he put himself in good position to make it three, turning in a lap of 180.397 miles per hour in 39.912 seconds in a Chevrolet to claim the pole for the next-to-last race before the “Chase for the Championship” begins.
“It was really good. I’m very proud of that lap,” Johnson said. “We went out kind of at the peak of the heat when things were just starting to break. ... All in all, I’m just extremely pleased with the lap and progress we made throughout the day to make the car faster. We’re happy to start up front, and hopefully we can take advantage of that.”
Jeff Gordon (179.565 mph) will start third, followed by Kasey Kahne (179.158 mph) and rookie Patrick Carpentier (178.860 mph). Elliott Sadler (178.492 mph) will start sixth as the Dodges of Gillett Evernham Motorsports grabbed positions four through six on the grid.
“I’m shocked, and I’m ecstatic right now,” Gordon said. “I missed [Turns] 1 and 2, but 3 and 4 were awesome. That was a great, great lap for us.”
The biggest splash was created by rookie A.J. Allemdinger, who will start alongside Johnson in Sunday’s Pepsi 500. One of the nine go or go home drivers, Allemdinger erased last February’s disappointment on the same two-mile superspeedway when rain washed away qualifying by posting his career-best start.
“There were a few cars we were worried about,” said Johnson, who has 17 career poles, “including A.J. I think he did a great job putting down a good smooth lap and certainly had us scared throughout the afternoon.”
It was pretty good,” Allmendinger said in a mild understatement. “The car was pretty good, so there wasn’t much more I could get out of that lap, it was smooth as I could be.
“It’s always tough when you’re in that situation of going home or just trying to make the race because you’re always just a little bit nervous just to try and get a little bit extra out of the car.
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