Kurt Busch was just 0.001 seconds faster than Jimmie Johnson, but it was enough to capture the pole for Sunday evening’s Sharp Aquos 500 Nextel Cup race at the California Speedway. The No.2 Miller Lite Dodge driver circled the two-mile oval in 39.474 seconds (182.399 m.p.h.).

The pole victory was Busch’s first of the season and 10th of his “Cup” career.

“We didn’t expect that good of a lap,” said Busch. “We got some of the cloud cover right when it first came in, you could almost feel it cool down.”

Starting alongside Busch will be Johnson who came up just short with a time of 39.475 seconds.

Kasey Kahne (39.556) and Ryan Newman (39.688) will make up row two.

QUALIFYING RESULTS:

POS, CAR, DRIVER, MAKE, SPONSOR, SPEED, TIME BEHIND

1 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 182.398 39.474 Leader
2 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s / Jimmie Johnson Foundation 182.394 39.475 -0.001
3 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Dodge Dealers / UAW 182.020 39.556 -0.082
4 12 Ryan Newman Dodge Kodak think: 181.415 39.688 -0.214
5 5 Kyle Busch Chevrolet Cheez-It / CARQUEST 181.342 39.704 -0.230
6 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Dodge Dealers / UAW 181.333 39.706 -0.232
7 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Budweiser 181.132 39.750 -0.276
8 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 180.818 39.819 -0.345
9 11 Denny Hamlin Chevrolet FedEx Express 180.805 39.822 -0.348
10 16 Greg Biffle Ford Aflac 180.605 39.866 -0.392
11 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Cheerios / Totino’s Pizza Rolls 180.596 39.868 -0.394
12 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 180.542 39.880 -0.406
13 25 Casey Mears Chevrolet National Guard / GMAC 180.542 39.880 -0.406
14 38 David Gilliland Ford M&M’s 180.533 39.882 -0.408
15 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Richard Childress Racing 180.338 39.925 -0.451
16 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont Cromax Pro 180.185 39.959 -0.485
17 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 180.144 39.968 -0.494
18 84 A.J. Allmendinger* Toyota Red Bull 180.085 39.981 -0.507
19 99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot Worklife Rewards 179.937 40.014 -0.540
20 15 Paul Menard* Chevrolet Johns Manville / Menards 179.856 40.032 -0.558
21 40 David Stremme Dodge Target 179.721 40.062 -0.588
22 20 Tony Stewart Chevrolet The Home Depot 179.502 40.111 -0.637
23 18 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet Interstate Batteries 179.497 40.112 -0.638
24 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet DIRECTV 179.417 40.130 -0.656
25 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA Auto Parts 179.332 40.149 -0.675
26 21 Bill Elliott Ford Motorcraft 179.305 40.155 -0.681
27 36 Jeremy Mayfield Toyota 360 OTC 179.207 40.177 -0.703
28 00 David Reutimann* Toyota Burger King 179.202 40.178 -0.704
29 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Furniture Row Racing 179.024 40.218 -0.744
30 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar 178.904 40.245 -0.771
31 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Target / Memorex 178.824 40.263 -0.789
32 49 John Andretti Dodge Paralyzed Veterans of America 178.722 40.286 -0.812
33 10 Scott Riggs Dodge Sears Auto Center / Valvoline / Stanley 178.709 40.289 -0.815
34 66 Jeff Green Chevrolet Best Buy 178.594 40.315 -0.841
35 6 David Ragan* Ford AAA Insurance 178.576 40.319 -0.845
36 96 Tony Raines Chevrolet DLP HDTV 178.545 40.326 -0.852
37 7 Robby Gordon Ford Original Roadhouse Grill / Jim Beam 178.372 40.365 -0.891
38 17 Matt Kenseth Ford R+L Carriers 178.297 40.382 -0.908
39 88 Ricky Rudd Ford Snickers Generation Max 178.258 40.391 -0.917
40 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Sharp AQUOS / 3M Vikuiti 178.024 40.444 -0.970
41 4 Ward Burton Chevrolet Lucas Oil / State Water Heaters 177.993 40.451 -0.977
42 44 Dale Jarrett Toyota UPS 177.405 40.585 -1.111
43 45 Kyle Petty Dodge Wells Fargo 176.796 40.725 -1.251
44 01 Aric Almirola Chevrolet U.S. Army 175.204 41.095 -1.621
45 70 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet Haas Automation 174.757 41.200 -1.726