Vickers earns his fifth '09 Cup pole at Chicagoland

JOLIET, Ill. -- With his fifth pole in 15 qualifying attempts this season, Brian Vickers will lead an all-Red Bull Racing Toyota front row to the green flag in Saturday night's LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.

LifeLock.com 400

Race Lineup

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Brian Vickers	Toyota
2.	Scott Speed	Toyota
3.	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet
4.	Denny Hamlin	Toyota
5.	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet
6.	Kyle Busch	Toyota
7.	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet
8.	Bill Elliott	Ford
9.	David Reutimann	Toyota
10.	Marcos Ambrose	Toyota

• Race Lineup | Photo Gallery

Vickers turned a lap at the 1.5-mile racetrack in 29.322 seconds (184.162 mph) Thursday to set a standard no other driver in the field could approach. Vickers' teammate, Scott Speed, who was last among 46 drivers to make a qualifying attempt, posted a lap at 182.958 mph to edge Jimmie Johnson (182.217 mph) for the second starting spot.

Now with 10 career poles, what's frustrating Vickers is the inability to convert his qualifying efforts into victories. Vickers' only win in NASCAR's Cup series came three years ago at Talladega.

"I'm very frustrated to not be in Victory Lane," Vickers said. "Sitting on poles this year was one of our goals. Winning races was, too. If I had to pick between the two, I'd pick wins over poles, but we'll take whatever we can get -- and we're really proud of the poles we've sat on this year.

"We've had the cars during the races to win. We just haven't had all the pieces come together. Everyone knows that to win a Cup race is very difficult. It takes a lot of talent, almost zero mistakes over 400, 500 or 600 miles, and also some luck."

Starting beside Johnson in fourth is Denny Hamlin (182.162 mph), and starting behind the three-time defending champion in fifth is Clint Bowyer (182.100 mph). Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Bill Elliott, David Reutimann and Marcos Ambrose will start from positions six through 10, respectively.

Cup points leader Tony Stewart, who started from the pole in the last two races because of qualifying rainouts, will have to come from deep in the field after qualifying 32nd Thursday.

Vickers was pleasantly surprised by his qualifying pace.

"It was an amazing lap," Vickers said. "I didn't expect it to be that quick. We had a really good car, and it was up to me to mess up or finish the job, one or the other."

News & Notes:

• The LifeLock.com 400 is the 19th race of the season, but four scheduled qualifying sessions have been canceled because of rain, with the field ordered according to the rulebook.
• Mike Wallace, Dexter Bean and Tony Raines failed to qualify for the 43-car field.
• Speed, a rookie of the year contender, qualified in the top 10 for the fourth time this season.
• Vickers has won poles on four different race track configurations this year: short track, 1.5-mile, 2.0-mile and road course.

Video: Another pole for Vickers | Red Bull up front