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20 February, 2009, 8:15 PM ET


No bull: Vickers on Pole Just days after being involved in "The Big One" with Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Daytona, Brian Vickers held off three-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson to win the pole for this Sunday's Auto Club 500 (5 p.m. ET on FOX). Jamie McMurray, Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle round out the top five qualifiers.

Sterling Marlin makes his attempt, but he just misses out on winning a spot in the field - losing out to Joe Nemechek.

That's a strong run by AJ Allmendinger! The Richard Petty Motorsports driver jumps up to eighth overall on the charts (182.048 mph). He is locked into the show.

David Starr makes his attempt, but he is simply not quick enough (177.122 mph). That locks in Jeremy Mayfield.

Now it's Mike Garvey's turn at the back of the pack - 175.897 mph. That locks in Scott Riggs.

Tony Raines takes over the dubious honor of being at the rear of the field (177.405 mph).

Dave Blaney completes his two laps, but his best lap is his first (180.320 mph, 29th best).

Joe Nemechek also completes both his laps, but he does only marginally better than Bodine - 177.998 mph.

Todd Bodine is the first driver to complete both of his qualifying laps, but it doesn't help. His top lap of 177.454 mph is dead last.

David Gilliland goes on track next. He sets a best lap of 180.234 mph (30th best overall)

Tony Stewart goes on track - the first of the "Go or Go Home" drivers. He is quick - taking over 10th overall with a fast lap of 181.901 mph. It looks like he won't need his past champions provisional today.

Unlucky Juan Pablo Montoya? The former Formula One driver just took over the 13th spot with a fast lap of 181.616 mph.

Mark Martin takes over 15th place with a 181.264 mph lap of record.

Former Cup champ Kurt Busch flexes his muscles here in qualifying, picking up the fourth position with a lap of 182.556 mph (0.189 seconds off Brian Vickers' pole pace).

Bakersfield, Calif., native Kevin Harvick just completed his run, 14th best (181.210 mph).

So far in this qualifying session, every driver is choosing to run just one lap.

A solid run by Jamie McMurray, who jumps to third on the charts with a 182.653 mph lap. This is shaping up to be the Hendrick-Roush duel everybody expected going into the weekend.

Reed Sorenson is 12th best on the charts with a 181.429 mph lap.

THAT WAS CLOSE! Prerace favorite Jimmie Johnson just finished his qualifying attempt and just missed the pole. His fast lap of 183.164 mph is a mere 0.058 seconds off the pace set by Brian Vickers. That was a big bullet dodged by Vickers and his Red Bull team - they have to be feeling good about nabbing the pole now.

Last week's big winner, Matt Kenseth, is on track for his qualifying attempt. He is 12th quick so far with his lap of 180.818 mph. Keep an eye for him on race day, no matter where he lines up he will be a contender.

Rookie Joey Logano is 18th out of 21 drivers with a best lap of 179.991 mph.

Another Close call! This time it's Jeff Gordon - who is third on the charts with a 182.209 mph run.

Close call! Greg Biffle makes a run for pole, but he just finishes short with a best lap of 182.302 mph (0.245 seconds behind Vickers).

Championship favorite and prerace favorite Carl Edwards is fifth out of eight drivers with a best lap of 180.773 mph.

Crowd favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. is well off the pace with a 179.991 mph top lap.

NEW PROVISIONAL POLESITTER! It's still early, but Brian Vickers snags pole position away from Kyle Busch with a 183.439 mph.

Busch won the pole just a few minutes ago for the Camping World Truck Series race (Saturday 3 p.m. ET on FOX) and set the mark to beat here for the Sprint Cup drivers with a 181.919 mph run.

Former race and pole winner Kyle Busch will be the first to hit the track in the qualifying session, he will be followed by Robby Gordon, John Andretti, Brian Vickers and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Just as a reminder, 49 cars showed up at Fontana this weekend, meaning that 14 "go or go home" drivers will be battling for eight spots (seven if Tony Stewart has to resort to his past champion's provisional).

Welcome to FOXSports.com's coverage of qualifying here at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. Check back at 6:40 pm ET for LIVE coverage.