Jamie McMurray captured the pole for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 from the Infineon Raceway road course. But the big story is that neither Jeff Gordon nor Jimmie Johnson were allowed to qualify.

Both cars failed pre-race inspection and the cars were not allowed on the track for practice or qualifying. Without Gordon, a five-time winner in Sonoma and the holder of the qualifying record, the No.26 Roush Fenway Racing Ford won the pole with a lap of one minute, 17.521 seconds (77.521 m.p.h.). The pole victory was McMurray’s first of the season and third of his Nextel Cup career. His last pole was in 2005 at Pocono.

“We unloaded and our engineering team gave us a really good car,” said McMurray. Starting on the front row with McMurray will be Robby Gordon who posted a time of 77.533 seconds. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (77.546) and road course specialist Boris Said (77.606) will make up row two.

Other drivers of note and their starting positions: Tony Stewart (fifth), Jeff Burton (sixth), Kasey Kahne (eighth), Ryan Newman (ninth), Carl Edwards (15th), Martin Truex Jr. (18th) and Juan Montoya (32nd).

Gordon and Johnson will be allowed to repair their cars and practice on Saturday - if they pass inspection. They will start 41st and 42nd in the race.

STARTING LINEUP:

Pos # Driver Sponsor Car

1 26 Jamie McMurray Crown Royal Ford
2 7 Robby Gordon Monster Energy Ford
3 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Chevrolet
4 60 Boris Said SoBe No Fear Ford
5 20 Tony Stewart The Home Depot Chevrolet
6 31 Jeff Burton AT&T Chevrolet
7 21 Bill Elliott Little Debbie Ford
8 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge
9 12 Ryan Newman Alltel Dodge
10 07 Clint Bowyer Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet
11 96 Ron Fellows DLP HDTV Chevrolet
12 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge
13 43 Bobby Labonte Cheerios Dodge
14 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge
15 99 Carl Edwards Office Depot Ford
16 44 Dale Jarrett UPS Toyota
17 16 Greg Biffle Dish Network Ford
18 1 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet
19 22 Dave Blaney Caterpillar Toyota
20 14 Sterling Marlin WileyX Chevrolet
21 91 Marc Goossens Commonwealth Toyota
22 29 Kevin Harvick Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet
23 45 Kyle Petty Wells Fargo Dodge
24 5 Kyle Busch Kellogg’s Chevrolet
25 55 Terry Labonte NAPA Toyota
26 01 Regan Smith U.S. Army Chevrolet
27 17 Matt Kenseth DeWalt Ford
28 88 Ricky Rudd Snickers Ford
29 41 Reed Sorenson Target Dodge
30 23 Butch Leitzinger Caterpillar Toyota
31 66 Jeff Green Best Buy Chevrolet
32 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Texaco/Havoline Dodge
33 18 J.J. Yeley Interstate Batteries Chevrolet
34 70 Johnny Sauter Yellow/HAAS CNC Chevrolet
35 38 David Gilliland M&M’s Ford
36 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Chevrolet
37 6 David Ragan AAA Ford
38 25 Casey Mears National Guard Chevrolet
39 13 Joe Nemechek Haier Chevrolet
40 40 David Stremme Coors Light Dodge
41 24 Jeff Gordon Dupont Chevrolet
42 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet
43 00 P.J. Jones Burger King Toyota

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