Kurt Busch Wins Fontana Pole

Kurt Busch pulled further away from the controversies that dogged him all winter by easily winning the pole position Friday for the NASCAR Auto Club 500 at California Speedway.

The 27-year-old Las Vegas native turned a lap at 187.086 mph in his Penske Racing Dodge on the two-mile, D-shaped track in Fontana, nearly a mile an hour faster than runner-up Greg Biffle, who will sit beside him on the starting grid Sunday.

Biffle, who won the Nextel Cup race a year ago, qualified at 186.186 mph in his Roush Racing Ford.

And Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson, who has been wrestling with his own controversies after his crew chief was caught cheating before last week’s season opener at Daytona, qualified third in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a lap at 185.735 mph.

All three agreed that they benefited from being among the last of the 50 entrants to take their qualifying laps, when the sun was setting and the temperatures dropping.

The cooler air gives the cars a tad more horsepower and better traction than when the track is hot and slippery.

“The late draw certainly helped us,” Biffle said.

Fontana provides friendly confines for Busch and his younger brother Kyle, 20, who won the pole a year ago and then scored his first Nextel Cup victory in the Labor Day race at California Speedway last year in a Hendrick Chevrolet.

Kurt Busch won a race here in 2003 and won the Nextel Cup championship in 2004, both while driving for Roush.

But Busch announced last year -- before the season was over -- that he would move to Roger Penske’s team in 2006, taking over the No. 2 car that had belonged to the retiring Rusty Wallace.

Then in November, before the race in Phoenix, Busch was stopped by sheriff’s deputies near the track and charged with reckless driving.

Roush Racing promptly suspended him for the year’s final two races, dropping Busch to a 10th-place finish in the title race. It was a humiliating way for Busch to leave as the defending Cup champion.

Busch spent the winter working on his new ride and his image. He was fast at Daytona until a wreck left him with a 38th-place finish, and he was fast again Friday.

The pole is part of “a new beginning,” he said. “It feels good to have everything behind me.

“Rusty left me with a great setup, and we polished it,” Busch said, adding that Wallace had called him after the qualifying run to offer congratulations. “Now we need to make sure it runs this fast in race trim.”

Johnson, meanwhile, said his third-place spot for Sunday’s race further validated how his team has been working harder while crew chief Chad Knaus is suspended.

“I feel very peaceful and happy right now,” Johnson said. “This is a great start for us.”

After Johnson qualified fifth for the Daytona 500, NASCAR found that Knaus had made an illegal adjustment to enhance the rear-window aerodynamics of Johnson’s No. 48 car.

Knaus was sent home, missed celebrating Johnson’s victory in person, and then was further penalized this week. NASCAR suspended him for three more races, fined him $25,000 and put him on probation until Dec. 31.

NASCAR did not deduct any of Johnson’s Nextel Cup points, but Johnson said that did not compare with losing Knaus.

“One thing I don’t think everybody understands is how tough it is to be without a crew chief,” he said. “I’d take [the loss of] 25 points over a four-week suspension any day.”

NASCAR’s Busch Series race is scheduled for today at 3:30 p.m., after Nextel Cup practice and Busch Series qualifying.