Ready to Rev It Up at Fontana

California Speedway’s $6.5-million NASCAR weekend gets underway today with Chevy Trucks Pole Day, qualifying for Sunday’s Auto Club 500 Winston Cup and Saturday’s California-Speedway.com 300 Busch series races.

A sellout crowd of more than 115,000 is expected for Sunday’s race, but it will be nothing new. All previous six races have been sold out.

Winning the pole, although nice for bragging rights by the engine builder, is no guarantee of success at this track. In the six previous Winston Cup races, no pole sitter has won the 500. Also, no one has won more than one pole. Past fast qualifiers were Joe Nemechek, Jeff Gordon, Mike Skinner, Bobby Labonte and Ryan Newman. In 1999, qualifying was rained out.

The same holds true for the Busch races. No pole winner has won the race and no one has won the pole more than once.

If there could be a favorite for the Auto Club 500 -- No. 10 of 36 in Winston Cup races -- it would be Gordon, the only two-time California Speedway winner (1997 and 1999) and winner of the last Winston Cup race two weeks ago in Martinsville, Va.

In a way, Gordon is a three-time winner here, having been the car owner last year when rookie Jimmie Johnson won the 500.

“We’ve had a lot of success in Fontana,” Gordon said. “We have fun racing here and are looking forward to a strong finish to continue our consistency.

“Jimmie’s win last year was an amazing experience. It actually felt awkward being in Victory Lane as a car owner and not a driver. We knew that the team could do it, but I was a little surprised it came so early in the season.”

Over a six-year period, Gordon has been dominant on California Speedway’s 2-mile D-shaped oval. His average finish is 5.8, despite a 16th place last year. He has led more laps, 331, and won more money, $737,745, than any other driver.

His average race speed of 155.012 mph, set in the inaugural event in 1997, still stands. When Gordon won, at 25, he was the youngest to ever win at Fontana.

Gordon’s victory at Martinsville moved him to third in points, 139 behind Matt Kenseth. He has gained 12 positions in the last four races in his quest for a fifth Winston Cup championship.

“Things are much different this year,” Gordon said. “We were inconsistent a lot last year and that’s what loses championships, not wins them.”

Johnson will be honored today with his induction into the speedway’s Walk of Fame as last year’s winner at 10 a.m. near Gate 12 behind the main grandstand.

In today’s qualifying, Winston Cup drivers will be shooting at Newman’s year-old record of 187.432 mph, and Busch drivers will try to better the 155.957 posted by Hank Parker Jr. two years ago.

Second-generation NASCAR Winston West driver Johnny Borneman III dominated the field Thursday in closed qualifying for Saturday morning’s Winston West race, the Pontiac Widetrack Grand Prix 200.

Borneman, 25, winning his first pole in 31 races, qualified his Ford at 173.544 mph, knocking off Brandon Whitt, 20, who earlier had averaged 172.195 in a Chevrolet.

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Times staff writer Martin Henderson contributed to this report.