Brian Vickers wins Cup pole in Fontana

Brian Vickers

Brian Vickers rebounded from a dismal result at Daytona by capturing his sixth career pole in qualifying for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway.

A week after being involved in a controversial accident with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the Daytona 500, Vickers put his Team Red Bull Toyota in the top spot for the second race of the season.

"Obviously, the best way to move on from a situation or a controversy is to give them something else to talk about," Vickers said. "We've given them that this week."

Vickers turned a lap at 183.439 mph to earn his second pole at the two-mile southern California track.

For Vickers, putting a frustrating incident like Sunday's crash in the rear-view mirror is something that comes naturally.

"For me, it's pretty easy," Vickers said. "I don't know if it's the way I was raised, or my mentality or what. I don't get mad very easily. Things can happen that will bother me, and I will keep that in the back of my mind and I will learn from those instances, and how I will handle those situations and people in the future. But in general, I don't let other people affect my daily life."

If there's anything that Vickers wishes he could change is the lingering anger he has when the gaff is his fault.

"I may make a decision or make a mistake that makes me mad, and I have a hard time letting that go," Vickers said. "But I don't let other people ruin my day. Honestly, I probably have the hardest time moving on when it's a mistake on my part rather than a mistake on somebody else's."

Jimmie Johnson was second fastest at 183.164 mph. Jamie McMurray, Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle rounded out the top five.

"The only thing I can think of is Brian and I went to In-N-Out Burger last night," Johnson said. "I had a double-double and he had a single. With that extra patty, five-hundredths of a second killed me."

Sixth through 10th were Jeff Gordon, David Reutimann, A.J. Allmendinger, Scott Speed and Kyle Busch.

Five cars failed to qualify: Todd Bodine, Tony Raines, David Starr, Mike Garvey and Sterling Marlin.

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