Vintage Sonoma Result for Gordon

Predictions of record speeds because of new pavement around the 1.99-mile Infineon Raceway road course proved accurate Friday, and the name at the top of the leader board for Sunday’s Dodge/Save Mart 350 was equally predictable.

Jeff Gordon won his fourth Nextel Cup pole at the former Sears Point track with a lap of 94.303 mph in his Chevrolet. The first four drivers -- Gordon, Rusty Wallace in a Dodge, Kurt Busch and Mark Martin in Fords -- bettered the mark of 93.620 set last year by road racing specialist Boris Said of Carlsbad.

If the rest of the NASCAR weekend in the wine country runs to form, it should be Gordon, the four-time series champion, in the winner’s circle Sunday. A native of nearby Vallejo, Gordon has won here three times, twice from the pole.

“With the new pavement, starting up front is more important than it ever has been before,” Gordon said. “Because of the new asphalt and being able to drive in so deep because of the good grip under braking, I think it will be even harder to pass.”

Wallace, who earned his front-row spot with a 94.174-mph lap, has won here twice.

“The car lost grip and that was that,” he said of his qualifying lap. “All in all, though, it was a good lap. I really wanted the pole, but [for a moment] I felt like I had the emergency brake on. But I didn’t.”

The course was repaved in August and drivers who tested here expected as many as half the drivers to break Said’s year-old mark. In practice earlier Friday, the 14 fastest cars were all under the record.

One who had problems was Robby Gordon, last year’s winner. His Chevrolet got loose at one point and he slid off course, losing valuable seconds. He qualified 24th in the 43-car field with a speed of 91.898.

“We tire-hopped [the curb] down there and when it’s doing that you can’t turn,” said the former off-racing champion. “It doesn’t matter. It’s just one lap.”

Said, who will drive in all three races here this weekend, qualified on the pole for today’s Southwest Series Snap-0n Tools 200 with a 92.020-mph run in a Chevrolet before qualifying 19th at 92.926 in another Chevy for the Nextel Cup feature. Qualifying for the Trans-Am is scheduled today, with the Motorock 99 on Sunday after the Nextel Cup race.

Klaus Graf, the first German-born driver since 1971 to enter a top-tier NASCAR race, was the 38th qualifier at 86.636 in one of the Petty Enterprise Dodges.

“It was great seeing a European driver coming to NASCAR. Now it would be nice if an American went to Formula One,” said Jeff Gordon, who has become an F1 enthusiast since trading rides with Juan Pablo Montoya last year at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“Did I learn anything from driving a Formula One car that could help me on the road course here?” he said. “Absolutely not. Driving a stock car is a completely different animal.”

Sunday’s 350-kilometer race, No. 16 in the 36-race season, is 110 laps, or 218.9 miles, around the 1.99-mile hillside course.