NASCAR Cup Series: Austin Dillon takes pole for 2019 Auto Club 400

Austin Dillon took his first pole position of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season for the season’s fifth race, the Auto Club 400, at Auto Club Speedway.

Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon took the pole position for the fifth of 36 races on the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, the Auto Club 400, at Auto Club Speedway and the third and final race of the sport’s annual West Coast swing.

Dillon took the pole position for this 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.0-mile (3.219-kilometer) Auto Club Speedway oval in Fontana, California by recording a top lap time of 39.982 seconds (180.081 miles per hour) in his #3 Chevrolet in the third and second of three qualifying sessions for it.

The reason that Dillon’s lap time in the second of these three qualifying sessions was used to determine the fact that he is set to start the race from the pole position is the fact that none of the 12 drivers who advanced to the third and final session got to the start/finish line to start their first lap before the clock hit 0:00 in that session.

As a result, the lap times of the top 12 drivers from the second qualifying session set the top 12 positions of the starting grid for the race.

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Therefore, Dillon’s official pole lap time was 0.000 seconds.

This pole position is Dillon’s first pole position of the season, and as a result, five different drivers have taken one pole position through the season’s first five races.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick is set to start alongside on the front row in second place in his #4 Ford. Aric Almirola, one of Harvick’s three teammates, is set to start in third in his #10 Ford alongside Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch, who was the highest qualifying Toyota driver for the race, in fourth in his #18 Toyota. Team Penske’s Joey Logano is set to round out the top five on the starting grid, as he qualified in fifth in his #22 Ford.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Newman, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney are set to round out the top 10 on the starting grid after qualifying in sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th place in their #11 Toyota, #6 Ford, #9 Chevrolet, #14 Ford and #12 Ford, respectively.

The other two drivers who advanced to the third and final qualifying session for the race were Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson and Roush Fenway Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. They qualified in 11th and 12th place in their #48 Chevrolet and #17 Ford, respectively.

Here are the full qualifying results for the 2019 Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway.

Qualifying Results
1st – Austin Dillon
2nd – Kevin Harvick
3rd – Aric Almirola
4th – Kyle Busch
5th – Joey Logano
6th – Denny Hamlin
7th – Ryan Newman
8th – Chase Elliott
9th – Clint Bowyer
10th – Ryan Blaney
11th – Jimmie Johnson
12th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
13th – Brad Keselowski
14th – Chris Buescher
15th – Kyle Larson
16th – Ty Dillon
17th – Daniel Hemric
18th – Erik Jones
19th – David Ragan
20th – Daniel Suarez
21st – Kurt Busch
22nd – William Byron
23rd – Alex Bowman
24th – Matt DiBenedetto
25th – Paul Menard
26th – Ryan Preece
27th – Martin Truex Jr.
28th – Darrell Wallace Jr.
29th – Michael McDowell
30th – Corey LaJoie
31st – Ross Chastain
32nd – Matt Tifft
33rd – Landon Cassill
34th – Cody Ware
35th – Reed Sorenson
36th – B.J. McLeod
37th – Garrett Smithley
38th – Joey Gase

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Be sure to tune in to Fox at 3:30 p.m. ET this Sunday, March 17 for the live broadcast of the fifth race on the 36-race 2019 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, the Auto Club 400, at Auto Club Speedway.

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