Vickers wins pole on NASCAR road course

SONOMA, Calif., June 19 (UPI) -- Brian Vickers turned in the fastest qualifying lap at Infineon Raceway Friday to win his fourth NASCAR Sprint Cup series pole of the year.

Vickers will start out front for Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350, to be run on the 1.99-mile, 12-turn road course. He covered one lap in 76.475 seconds Friday after having won the pole last weekend in Michigan.

Defending champion Kyle Busch was second-fastest with a lap in 76.690 seconds. He overcame a starting position of 30th to win at Sonoma last year.

Marcos Ambrose, a former road racer in Australia, qualified third, followed by Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne. The top 10 was rounded out by Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Newman, Elliott Sadler, Boris Said and Matt Kenseth.

Three-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson will start 11th.