Written by Adrian Beecher
Fontana, CA – Austin Dillon claimed his first pole of the 2019 season on Friday afternoon at Auto Club Speedway. Ironically enough Dillon didn’t have to post a lap time in the final round, as no one actually made on in
Here’s the full run down on a wild qualifying session at Auto Club Speedway!
Round 1 of Auto Club 400 Qual
In round one of qualifying, Kyle Busch took off on pit road almost immediately after the 10 minute clock started and the rest of the field followed suit. Then just 2:42 into qualifying, Chase Elliott took a spin coming out of turn two and got loose, to bring out the caution.
Elliott was approved by NASCAR to change his tires. He would be able to get back out on the track and pull off the 3rd fastest qualifying time in round 1.
Austin Dillon was the fastest in round one. Point leader Kyle Busch was 20th fastest, having his one lone lap being good enough to make round two, creating a huge advantage for him.
Paul Menard was 25th fastest and missed the 2nd round by just 0.016, as Ty Dillon beat him out, running 24th fastest.
Full Round 1 Results
| POS | CAR | DRIVER | DELTA | LAPS | LAST LAP | BEST TIME | BEST SPEED | BEST LAP |
| 1 | 3 | Austin Dillon | — | 1 | 179.951 | 40.011 | 179.951 | 1 |
| 2 | 22 | Joey Logano | 0.097 | 1 | 179.515 | 40.108 | 179.515 | 1 |
| 3 | 9 | Chase Elliott | 0.099 | 2 | 179.506 | 40.11 | 179.506 | 2 |
| 4 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | 0.106 | 1 | 179.475 | 40.117 | 179.475 | 1 |
| 5 | 10 | Aric Almirola | 0.111 | 1 | 179.453 | 40.122 | 179.453 | 1 |
| 6 | 37 | Chris Buescher | 0.159 | 1 | 179.238 | 40.17 | 179.238 | 1 |
| 7 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | 0.162 | 1 | 179.225 | 40.173 | 179.225 | 1 |
| 8 | 24 | William Byron | 0.202 | 1 | 179.047 | 40.213 | 179.047 | 1 |
| 9 | 95 | Matt DiBenedetto | 0.243 | 1 | 178.864 | 40.254 | 178.864 | 1 |
| 10 | 6 | Ryan Newman | 0.262 | 1 | 178.78 | 40.273 | 178.78 | 1 |
| 11 | 8 | Daniel Hemric # | 0.264 | 1 | 178.771 | 40.275 | 178.771 | 1 |
| 12 | 41 | Daniel Suarez | 0.31 | 1 | 178.567 | 40.321 | 178.567 | 1 |
| 13 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | 0.378 | 2 | 178.266 | 40.389 | 178.266 | 2 |
| 14 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | 0.384 | 1 | 178.24 | 40.395 | 178.24 | 1 |
| 15 | 42 | Kyle Larson | 0.397 | 2 | 178.183 | 40.408 | 178.183 | 2 |
| 16 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | 0.404 | 1 | 178.152 | 40.415 | 178.152 | 1 |
| 17 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | 0.405 | 3 | 178.147 | 40.416 | 178.147 | 3 |
| 18 | 1 | Kurt Busch | 0.425 | 1 | 178.059 | 40.436 | 178.059 | 1 |
| 19 | 38 | David Ragan | 0.425 | 1 | 178.059 | 40.436 | 178.059 | 1 |
| 20 | 18 | Kyle Busch | 0.471 | 1 | 177.857 | 40.482 | 177.857 | 1 |
| 21 | 20 | Erik Jones | 0.48 | 2 | 177.817 | 40.491 | 177.817 | 2 |
| 22 | 88 | Alex Bowman | 0.491 | 2 | 177.769 | 40.502 | 177.769 | 2 |
| 23 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | 0.505 | 1 | 177.708 | 40.516 | 177.708 | 1 |
| 24 | 13 | Ty Dillon | 0.507 | 3 | 176.605 | 40.518 | 177.699 | 1 |
| 25 | 21 | Paul Menard | 0.523 | 3 | 176.887 | 40.534 | 177.629 | 1 |
| 26 | 47 | Ryan Preece # | 0.561 | 2 | 177.462 | 40.572 | 177.462 | 2 |
| 27 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr | 0.569 | 3 | 176.739 | 40.58 | 177.427 | 1 |
| 28 | 43 | Bubba Wallace | 0.655 | 2 | 177.052 | 40.666 | 177.052 | 2 |
| 29 | 34 | Michael McDowell | 0.863 | 3 | 173.879 | 40.874 | 176.151 | 1 |
| 30 | 32 | Corey LaJoie | 0.93 | 1 | 175.863 | 40.941 | 175.863 | 1 |
| 31 | 15 | Ross Chastain(i) | 1.147 | 1 | 174.936 | 41.158 | 174.936 | 1 |
| 32 | 36 | Matt Tifft # | 1.173 | 3 | 171.229 | 41.184 | 174.825 | 1 |
| 33 | 0 | Landon Cassill | 1.389 | 3 | 173.913 | 41.4 | 173.913 | 3 |
| 34 | 51 | Cody Ware # | 1.734 | 2 | 172.476 | 41.745 | 172.476 | 2 |
| 35 | 27 | * Reed Sorenson | 2.431 | 1 | 169.643 | 42.442 | 169.643 | 1 |
| 36 | 52 | BJ McLeod(i) | 2.744 | 1 | 168.401 | 42.755 | 168.401 | 1 |
| 37 | 77 | Garrett Smithley(i) | 2.795 | 1 | 168.201 | 42.806 | 168.201 | 1 |
| 38 | 66 | * Joey Gase(i) | 3.508 | 2 | 163.953 | 43.519 | 165.445 | 1 |
Round 2 Qualifying Auto Club 400
Round two saw Kurt Busch take off at the very start, he went alone. This hurt him mighty, not having any car to draft off of. He finished the round in 21st. The entire rest of the field waited to go until less than one minute was left on the clock, and once again Austin Dillon was the fastest on the track. He was in fact 0.029-seconds.
Brad Keselowski was the 13th fastest on the track, missing the final round of 12 by 0.043 seconds, giving the 12th position to Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Here are the full results from round 2.
| POS | CAR | DRIVER | DELTA | LAPS | LAST LAP | BEST TIME | BEST SPEED | BEST LAP | |
| 1 | 3 | Austin Dillon | — | 1 | 180.081 | 39.982 | 180.081 | 1 | |
| 2 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | 0.155 | 1 | 179.386 | 40.137 | 179.386 | 1 | |
| 3 | 10 | Aric Almirola | 0.223 | 1 | 179.082 | 40.205 | 179.082 | 1 | |
| 4 | 18 | Kyle Busch | 0.265 | 1 | 178.895 | 40.247 | 178.895 | 1 | |
| 5 | 22 | Joey Logano | 0.266 | 1 | 178.891 | 40.248 | 178.891 | 1 | |
| 6 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | 0.330 | 1 | 178.607 | 40.312 | 178.607 | 1 | |
| 7 | 6 | Ryan Newman | 0.352 | 1 | 178.509 | 40.334 | 178.509 | 1 | |
| 8 | 9 | Chase Elliott | 0.374 | 1 | 178.412 | 40.356 | 178.412 | 1 | |
| 9 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | 0.386 | 1 | 178.359 | 40.368 | 178.359 | 1 | |
| 10 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | 0.396 | 1 | 178.315 | 40.378 | 178.315 | 1 | |
| 11 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | 0.398 | 1 | 178.306 | 40.380 | 178.306 | 1 | |
| 12 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | 0.423 | 1 | 178.196 | 40.405 | 178.196 | 1 | |
| 13 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | 0.466 | 1 | 178.006 | 40.448 | 178.006 | 1 | |
| 14 | 37 | Chris Buescher | 0.509 | 1 | 177.817 | 40.491 | 177.817 | 1 | |
| 15 | 42 | Kyle Larson | 0.523 | 1 | 177.756 | 40.505 | 177.756 | 1 | |
| 16 | 13 | Ty Dillon | 0.541 | 1 | 177.677 | 40.523 | 177.677 | 1 | |
| 17 | 8 | Daniel Hemric # | 0.563 | 1 | 177.580 | 40.545 | 177.580 | 1 | |
| 18 | 20 | Erik Jones | 0.608 | 1 | 177.384 | 40.590 | 177.384 | 1 | |
| 19 | 38 | David Ragan | 0.631 | 1 | 177.283 | 40.613 | 177.283 | 1 | |
| 20 | 41 | Daniel Suarez | 0.638 | 1 | 177.253 | 40.620 | 177.253 | 1 | |
| 21 | 1 | Kurt Busch | 0.662 | 1 | 177.148 | 40.644 | 177.148 | 1 | |
| 22 | 24 | William Byron | 0.751 | 1 | 176.761 | 40.733 | 176.761 | 1 | |
| 23 | 88 | Alex Bowman | 1.159 | 1 | 175.008 | 41.141 | 175.008 | 1 | |
| 24 | 95 | Matt DiBenedetto | 1.515 | 1 | 173.507 | 41.497 | 173.507 | 1 |
Final Round of Auto Club 400 Qualifying
In the final round all of the cars waited to long on pit road and none made a qual lap. This forced scoring to revert back to the fastest times inthe 2nd round, thus giving the pole to Austin Dillon.
Dillon planned to wait it out, because he knew if no one made a lap, the pole was his. As the field made their way around turn four, they jockeyed for position. However, the time ran out and a NASCAR Official came over the radio and said no cars made times.
