Last week, Brian Vickers put his Toyota on the pole at Michigan, in the heart of the American auto industry.
With NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series moving to California, the home away from home for the Japanese auto maker, Friday’s result was no different: Vickers’ Camry on the pole for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.
Vickers, who picked up .65 seconds from his fastest practice time earlier in the day, covered the 1.99-mile, 10-turn road course in 76.475 seconds (93.678 mph) to knock Kyle Busch, last year’s winner, out of the top spot. Busch will start second, thanks to a lap at 93.415 mph. NASCAR.com
Marcos Ambrose qualified third to give Toyotas the top three qualifying spots.
Tony Stewart qualified fourth in a Chevrolet and was followed by Kasey Kahne in a Dodge. Martin Truex Jr. was sixth and was followed by Ryan Newman, Elliott Sadler, Boris Said and Matt Kenseth, who was the highest qualifying Ford.
Three-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson was 11th and rookie Joey Logano was 12th. Five-time Sonoma winner Jeff Gordon was 13th.
Juan Pablo Montoya, the 2007 race winner here, qualified 17th. The Associated Press
POS CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 2 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 3 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 4 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 5 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge 6 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 7 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 8 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge 9 8 Boris Said Ford 10 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 11 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 12 20 Joey Logano* Toyota 13 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 14 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 15 16 Greg Biffle Ford 16 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 17 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 18 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 19 66 Dave Blaney Toyota 20 44 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge 21 7 Casey Mears Chevrolet 22 7 Robby Gordon Toyota 23 26 Jamie McMurray Ford 24 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 25 96 Bobby Labonte Ford 26 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 27 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 28 43 Reed Sorenson Dodge 29 9 Ron Fellows Chevrolet 30 98 Paul Menard Ford 31 187 Joe Nemechek Toyota 32 171 David Gilliland Chevrolet 33 113 Max Papis* Toyota 34 99 Carl Edwards Ford 35 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 36 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 37 204 P.J. Jones Toyota 38 55 Patrick Carpentier Toyota 39 12 David Stremme Dodge 40 6 David Ragan+ Ford 41 34 John Andretti+ Chevrolet 42 0 David Reutimann+ Toyota 43 102 Brandon Ash Dodge
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