Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

Brian Vickers

FONTANA, Calif. (February 20, 2009) -- What goes around comes around, and in Brian Vickers' case, it came around at pole-winning speed Friday at Auto Club Speedway.

With a lap at 183.439 mph (39.250 seconds) Vickers claimed the top spot for Sunday's Auto Club 500 Sprint Cup race, the second event on the 2009 schedule for NASCAR's foremost series.

Vickers, whose No. 83 Red Bull Toyota was wrecked after contact from Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Chevrolet in last Sunday's Daytona 500, rebounded smartly from that catastrophe, edging three-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson (183.164 mph) by .059 seconds at the 2-mile speedway.

Jamie McMurray (182.653 mph) qualified third, followed by Kurt Busch (182.556 mph) and Greg Biffle (182.302 mph). Jeff Gordon, David Reutimann, AJ Allmendinger, rookie Scott Speed and Kyle Busch will start from positions six through 10, respectively.

"I couldn't ask for much more out of the car," said Vickers, who claimed the sixth pole of his career and his second since joining Red Bull Racing in 2007. "We fought 'tight' (an understeer) in practice quite a bit, and we found something there in that last (practice) run that helped us."

Vickers was especially pleased at securing one of the perks that goes to the pole winner: first choice of pit stall.

"Any pole is special," Vickers said, "and it's great here to get that first pit stall."

Though Johnson dominated the first practice session, he didn't get an optimum performance from his qualifying lap.

"I missed (Turns) 1 and 2 a little bit, and I think that hurt me in the end," Johnson said. "The only thing I can think of is that Vickers and I went to In-N-Out Burger last night. I had a double-double, and he had a single.

"I think that extra patty killed me."

Notes: Allmendinger, the third-place finisher in the Daytona 500, was fastest among those required to qualify on speed. Tony Stewart (11th) also made the field comfortably in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Chevrolet… Daytona 500 winner and current points leader Matt Kenseth will start 24th… Todd Bodine, Tony Raines, David Starr, Mike Garvey and Sterling Marlin failed to qualify… The engine in Michael Waltrip's No. 55 Toyota failed to fire. Waltrip did not make a qualifying run but will start 42nd on an owner points provisional… David Gilliland (32nd) made the field in his first outing in TRG Motorsports' No. 71 Chevy. Gilliland's release from Yates Racing was announced Friday.