Kevin Harvick will take the green flag 27th on Sunday evening at Fontana. Credit: Autostock

Some Chasers happy, some have work ahead

Fontana kind to some, tough to others in qualifying

FONTANA, Calif. -- Of the eight drivers battling for what appear to be the final three spots in the Chase for the Nextel Cup, four were pleased after Friday's Bud Pole Qualifying at California Speedway, while the other four find themselves deep in the field for Sunday's Pop Secret 500.

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Two of those -- Kevin Harvick and Bobby Labonte -- are clinging to the top 10 but will start way back Sunday.

Labonte, starting 37th after a lap of 182.741 mph, hasn't had a top-10 finish since the Fourth of July race at Daytona. Harvick, rolling off 27th with a lap of 183.734 mph, has only had four top-10s in his past 14 races.

Labonte wondered if perhaps a decision to concentrate on race set-up was the correct one, in hindsight.

Bobby Labonte will start 37th on Sunday. Credit: Autostock

"It's about what we ran in practice," Labonte said. "We ran mostly race stuff this morning so we didn't give it that much effort. We probably should have given it a little more effort but we didn't. So that's what we ended up with."

Harvick's problem may have been a wind that kicked up late in the afternoon.

"I just never got the car down low enough to get through Turns 1 and 2 like I wanted do," Harvick said. "I don't know if I didn't arc it as much as I should have or what.

"It's getting windy on the frontstretch, so that's going to help with some of the speeds later on. That could hurt us a little bit going out as early as we did. Still, we should be in good shape for Sunday."

Even though the polesitter has never won a race here, no one deeper in the field than 24th has visited Victory Lane.

Jeremy Mayifled said he accomplished his goal Friday -- beating teammate Bill Elliott. Credit: Autostock

Jeremy Mayfield, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin and Ryan Newman all qualified in the top 15, while Jamie McMurray and Dale Jarrett will join Harvick and Labonte near the back of the grid.

Mayfield, 35 points behind Newman, was the happiest of the group when he knocked Bill Elliott from a front-row starting spot with a lap of 186.364 mph.

"Right before I went out, everyone was saying, 'Don't let the old man beat you,' " Mayfield said. "I had to beat him.

"I'm real excited about the lap. You can tell the intensity is up. We really feel good about this week."

Kahne, 11th in the points and 26 behind Newman, was fifth fastest at 185.816 mph.

"We were a little tight in (Turns) 1 and 2," Kahne said. "I think the wind had a little something to do with that. We just didn't get it slowed down enough to cut through the air.

"(Turns) 3 and 4 felt pretty good. I think we made up a little time down there and lost a little bit in 1 and 2."

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Martin, also 35 points behind Newman, was thrilled with his lap of 185.529 mph -- good enough for 11th starting spot -- after fighting the car throughout the first practice session.

"It was a great lap and great judgement by the team in the garage," Martin said. "All of that was done in the garage. These guys are fantastic.

"We unloaded terrible and I was just at my wit's end. It was a case of team effort, not only by (crew chief Pat Tryson) and Wally (Brown), but by everybody. They all put their heads together and all of that was done in the garage."

Newman will roll off 14th after posting a lap of 185.180 mph.

"I didn't know exactly what the racetrack was going to do, but it picked up some speed for us," Newman said. "I'm happy with that, and we'll have to see what we can do holding everybody else off. It's out of our hands right now."

McMurray, who wound up 23rd at 184.091 mph, felt like he was down on power.

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"My car drove real good," he said. "It seemed like the motor just wouldn't run. I don't know if we've got a miss or what.

"It had it all day and seemed to get worse actually in qualifying. It wasn't that bad of a lap considering the way the engine felt."

Jarrett's No. 88 Ford was only able to qualify 25th fastest at 183.932 mph, but his opinion was "better safe than sorry."

"(Crew chief Mike Ford) wanted to free the car up some and I really wouldn't do it because of past experience with this race car," Jarrett said. "Everytime we tried to free it up a little bit we've gotten really loose in qualifying.

"Even though the track temperature cooled off, I just wouldn't do it so I was tight in (Turns) 1 and 2. I needed to be just a little bit freer to run a little bit faster."