With the controversy between Brian Vickers and Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Daytona International Speedway, Vickers gave people something else to talk about after Friday's qualifying session. After turning a lap of 39.25 seconds at a speed of 183.439 miles per hour, the driver of the No. 83 Toyota will lead the field when the green flag is waved for the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway.

"Obviously, the best way to move on from a situation or a controversy is to give them something else to talk about," said Vickers. "We've given them that this week."

"It always feels good to be on the pole. ... Probably more important than that is the pit selection -- that's what you're fighting for, in my mind, on Sunday."

After leading the opening practice session on Friday afternoon, Jimmie Johnson will start on Vickers' right hand side. The winner of last fall's race at Fontana laid down a lap of 39.309 seconds at 183.164 miles per hour.

"The only thing I can think of is Brian and I went to In-N-Out Burger last night," Johnson joked. "I had a double-double and he had a single. With that extra patty, five-hundreths of a second killed me."

Jamie McMurray, Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle round out the top-5 of Sunday's starting field.

Daytona 500 champion Matt Kenseth will take the green in the 17th position.