Fri Aug 29 21:18:52 2008

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Johnson wins pole at California

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Fontana, CA (Sports Network) - California-native Jimmie Johnson captured the pole for Sunday's Pepsi 500 at the Auto Club Speedway. The No.48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver and two-time defending Sprint Cup Series champion circled the two-mile oval in 39.912 seconds (180.397 mph).

The pole victory was Johnson's fourth of the season and the 17th of his Sprint Cup career. It was his first pole at California.

"I grew up very close to this racetrack and raced a lot in this area," Johnson said. "Great day, great performance. We worked hard on this car throughout all of practice. I made some good changes and picked up a lot of speed, and went out when it was awfully hot and put up a lap that stuck."

A.J. Allmendinger qualified a career-best second after posting a time of 40.076 seconds.

"That was pretty cool," Allmendinger said. "I knew the lap that Jimmie put up, that was pretty fast, but I just wanted to put a solid lap in and be smooth, and just get as get as good of a starting spot as we could and make sure we make the race."

Allmendinger, currently 36th in owner points, was one of the nine drivers who had to qualify on time.

Jeff Gordon (40.097) and Kasey Kahne (40.188) will start on the second row.

Other drivers of note and their starting positions: Kyle Busch (11th), Tony Stewart (14th), Greg Biffle (15th), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (18th), Denny Hamlin (21st), David Ragan (22nd), Carl Edwards (26th), Jeff Burton (27th), Clint Bowyer (31st), Kevin Harvick (33rd) and Matt Kenseth (37th).

Tony Raines was the only driver who failed to qualify.

Just two races remain before the 2008 "Chase for the Sprint Cup" championship begins September 14th at New Hampshire, Busch and Edwards have already qualified.

Edwards has closed the points gap on Busch the last two weeks by winning at Michigan and Bristol. His victory at Bristol ended in dramatic fashion as he bumped Busch aside for the lead with 31 laps to go. Busch retaliated at the conclusion of the race by intentionally ramming into Edwards, but Edwards responded by spinning Busch out. NASCAR placed both drivers on probation for the next six races resulting from their post-race altercation.

Edwards is looking to continue his winning momentum at California, where he captured his first Cup victory this season in February.

Johnson and Earnhardt, Jr. are expected to secure a spot for the "Chase" when they leave California, as both drivers only need to finish 40th or better. Johnson is the defending race winner.

The remaining seven positions in the "Chase" are still up for grabs as 170 points separate sixth-place Stewart from 13th-place Ragan. Stewart, seventh- place Biffle and eighth-place Harvick could potentially clinch at California, while Gordon, Kenseth, Hamlin and Bowyer, ninth through 12th in points, respectively, have their work cut out for them. Just 108 points separate Gordon from Ragan.

Ragan is only 12 points behind Bowyer, while 14th-place Kahne is 56 markers back. After finishing 40th at Bristol, Kahne hopes to rebound at California, where he has scored six top-10 finishes, including a victory in the Labor Day weekend event there two years ago.

The green flag is scheduled to drop Sunday around 8 p.m. (et).