NASCAR at Fontana qualifying results: Martin Truex Jr. wins Auto Club 400 pole

Defending Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. was fastest (186.567 mph) in a qualifying session marred by several notables having issues passing technical inspection Friday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

Kevin Harvick, who’s won three consecutive races, was the favorite to capture the pole for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 and appeared well on his way to doing just that after leading the first two rounds -- including a 188.744 mph lap in Round 1 that broke Denny Hamlin’s track record (188.511 mph) set two years ago. But Harvick got loose in the third round forcing him to slow and could only muster the 10th-fastest speed.

Harvick is seeking to become the eighth driver in NASCAR’s modern era (1972 to present) to win four races in a row. Jimmie Johnson was the last driver to win four straight, accomplishing the feat in 2007.

“I pushed up high enough (in the corner) to where I got hung up on that seam with the left side tires through [Turns] 1 and 2 and just lost a bunch of time as it got the left-rear on it and got sideways,” Harvick said.

Truex’s pole is the 17th of his career and second in a row, having topped qualifying last week at ISM Raceway outside of Phoenix. Toyota teammate Kyle Busch starts second, followed by defending race winner Kyle Larson in a Chevrolet, Erik Jones in a Toyota and Austin Dillon in a Chevrolet.

“It wasn’t perfect by any means but we did what we had to do there,” Truex said.

Thirteen drivers never made it onto the track after their cars either failed or didn’t clear pre-qualifying technical inspection without sufficient time to make a lap. The group included all four Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets (Johnson, Alex Bowman, William Byron and Chase Elliott), the Stewart-Haas Racing Fords of Aric Almirola and Clint Bowyer, and the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas of Denny Hamlin and Daniel Suarez.

“The first time through there were a lot of failures at all the stations, it was basically kind of split between chassis, weights and measures and the body scan,” NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition Scott Miller told FS1. “The second time through it seems like most of it centered around the actual body scan itself, which honestly this is the most aerodynamic track we’ve gone to, so kind of no surprise that they would be pushing the limits here more than some of the other places.”

The thirteen drivers will lineup in positions 25 through 37 on Sunday.

Starting in the back of the field at ACS is not as big a punishment as it would be at other tracks. The track’s wide, multi-lane surface provides numerous passing opportunities, and compared to drivers who qualified being required to start on the tires they used during time trials, those who did not qualify will start the race on fresh tires -- a significant advantage on ACS’s well-worn surface, the oldest in NASCAR.

“It’ll be interesting to start the race,” Harvick said. “You’ve got all the cars with penalties all on brand new tires, so you’re penalized because you’re out here and went through tech and qualified good at the start of the race. So we’ll have to manage through that.”

Realizing it was inadvertently penalizing teams that had followed the rules, NASCAR on Friday night announced a rule change where teams that had qualified could purchase a set of new tires to start Sunday’s race on like those who had not qualified, thereby negating any advantage.