Kurt Busch Works His Way to the Front

Kurt Busch isn’t going to make this year’s Chase for the Nextel Cup, but the series’ 2004 champion still has plenty to prove.

The Las Vegas driver ignored the triple-digit heat in Fontana and won the pole position Friday for Sunday’s Sony HD 500 NASCAR race at the California Speedway.

“It was a really good run,” said Busch, whose lap of 184.540 mph in a Dodge bested the 43-car field that will start the race at 5 p.m. and finish under the lights at the two-mile, D-shaped oval.

Brian Vickers of Hendrick Motorsports qualified second at 184.049 mph in a Chevrolet, and will start on the front row with Busch. Rookie Clint Bowyer of Richard Childress Racing was third in a Chevy at 183.505 mph.

Neither of them will make the Chase. Like Busch, they’ve been mathematically eliminated from becoming one of the top 10 drivers in points after 26 races who will compete for the championship during the last 10 races of the season.

That group of 10 will be set after this race and next week’s event in Richmond, Va.

One driver still in contention, Dale Earnhardt Jr., surprised many with his run. Earnhardt has never done well at California Speedway but qualified his Chevrolet sixth at 182.792 mph.

Acknowledged as NASCAR’S most popular driver, he briefly held the pole after his lap, sparking a roar from the crowd.

Earnhardt is ninth in the points and needs a good finish Sunday to keep his title hopes alive. In fact, he posted the best qualifying lap of any Chase contender.

The pole was Busch’s fifth of the year, and his second straight.He also qualified first a week ago at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee.

Busch, 28, won the Cup race at the California Speedway in 2003 while driving for Roush Racing, and this year he switched to drive the No. 2 Dodge for Penske Racing South.

But Busch is 14th in the points, and only the top 13 still have a chance to finish among the 10 that will make the Chase.

That’s given his team “the opportunity to try some off-the-wall things, learn and make mistakes,” Busch said. On his qualifying run Friday, “it was really a matter of finding the right adjustments to make because of the hot temperatures.

“We’ve been real solid with the power and setups underneath me,” Busch said, but added, “We need to make them last for more than a lap.”

Busch’s younger brother, 21-year-old Kyle, won the Labor Day race at Fontana a year ago and qualified 10th for Sunday’s race in his Hendrick Chevrolet.

Friday’s qualifying also brought joy for veteran Sterling Marlin, and disappointment for Bill Lester.

Marlin, 49, qualified 27th in his MB2 Motorsports Chevy to ensure that he’ll make his 700th start in the Cup series.

But Lester, who was again attempting to become the only African American driver in the race, failed to make the field after losing control and spinning out during his qualifying run.

“I’m obviously disappointed,” Lester said. “It just didn’t work out for us this time.”

Lester, driving a Dodge for Bill Davis Racing, spun in Turn 4 and slid across the infield grass. Because he hadn’t yet reached the start-finish line, he turned around and drove backward around the track, made a U-turn near the pits and then attempted to circle the track again in an effort to qualify.

It didn’t work.

“I went back around, hoping the tires weren’t too bad, but the fact of the matter is the tires were flat-spotted,” or severely bruised from when he hit the brakes during his spin, Lester said.

Lester, 45, normally drives in NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck series. But at Atlanta in March, he became the first African American in two decades to start a Cup race. He raced again at Michigan International Speedway in June.

Will he try again?

“That remains to be seen,” he said. “I’m sure hoping I’m going to get more opportunities. We’re not over and done.”

Carl Edwards, the Roush driver who won the pole a year ago, qualified 24th. David Gilliland of Riverside, who recently moved up to NASCAR’s top tier from the Busch series, qualified 20th.

*

james.peltz@latimes.com