FONTANA, Calif. -- His outrageous jackets and questionable T-shirts may be fleeting fads but his desire to stay and find success in NASCAR is here to stay.

Scott Speed, the top qualifying rookie for Sunday's Auto Club 500, is making inroads where some of his open-wheel predecessors have failed.

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I'm continuing to learn and honestly that whole process of learning and getting better at this is what I'm enjoying so much.

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SCOTT SPEED

And the fact that a new Formula One team may be forming in the United States barely has the driver raising a brow. The idea of him making a return to the series was laughable.

The California native is making friends inside the NASCAR garage; they may think his style is a bit bizarre but they like him well enough.

"I feel a ton more comfortable than at the end of last year," the 26-year-old Speed said. "The more experience I'm getting by far the better we're getting."

Speed's qualifying lap (181.965 mph) in the No. 82 Toyota on Friday was ninth-fastest. Joey Logano, the only other 2009 rookie of the year contender, had the 34th-best qualifying time.

Unlike some of the past rookies to enter the Cup Series with little-to-no experience, Speed's Red Bull Racing Team has spent extensive time and planning developing its driver.

He started 16 races in the Truck Series in 2008 producing one win at Dover, four top-fives and nine top-10s, and earned his first career pole, at Bristol. Speed also finished third in the ARCA Series after winning four races.

That said Speed has some real expectations to meet. But in the grand scheme of things, he expects to continue to learn.

"Let's say at the last race of the year in [Homestead-] Miami -- we had a great car especially in qualifying and in the race I think we definitely had a top-10 car that we probably could have finished in there. I ended up finishing 16th which is probably a lucky 16th because we should have been more like 20th. That's where I would say I'm at right now in my progress," Speed said. "By the end of the year, I want to be able to finish in 10th if that's where my car is capable of finishing."

As for his progress across the different touring series in which he has competed, Speed said the idea is to improve and become one of the best drivers in the series whether he wins or not.

"It really doesn't have too much to do with that. Obviously, in the long term it does, but to win a one-off Truck race, for example, was I the best Truck driver there? Not even close," Speed said. "I'm certainly a lot better than I was then and I'm continuing to learn and honestly that whole process of learning and getting better at this is what I'm enjoying so much.

"To come from this where I really have no experience and I'm not very good at it, honestly, and to try to keep improving myself and be the level of where I can compete in the Cup Series -- that whole journey and learning process has been a really, really cool part of my life."

Although he finished a dismal 35th in his first Daytona 500 -- collected in a wreck between teammate Brian Vickers and Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- Speed said he gained a new comfort level.

"You're learning a little bit of everything."

As for Sunday's Cup race, Speed said, "At least we know we have a good car under us. We'll hopefully end up in the top 15 and be able to go from there."