Despite the usual array of road course experts assembled for the first non oval race of the 2008 Sprint Cup season it was one of the regular series' oval specialists, Gillett-Evernham's Kasey Kahne, who took pole position for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the twisting Infineon Raceway.
Kahne took advantage of an early qualifying draw to avoid some of the general muck and detritus kicked up during the course of the session to turn a best lap of 1 minute 17.740-seconds (92.153mph) around the ten turn 1.99-mile California road course. That time was barely a tenth quicker than second place qualifier Jimmie Johnson but it was enough to give the driver of the #9 Budweiser Dodge his second Coors Light pole award of the season.
Johnson's #48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet will join Kahne on the front row of the grid on Sunday but it was apparent that a Dodge was the thing to have in qualifying trim at least with Kahne's Mopar brethren Kurt Busch and Bobby Labonte sharing row two and three other Charger drivers also in the top ten.
Johnson and his Hendrick teammate Jeff Gordon, who will start fifth, were the only Chevrolet drivers to break into the top seven rows of the grid with Australian driver Marcos Ambrose causing a sensation on his Sprint Cup debut by qualifying seventh, fastest of the Ford brigade.
Although Toyota have made huge strides this year, they seemed to miss the boat when it came to qualifying at the undulating Infineon circuit with Denny Hamlin's 13th fastest time the best the manufacturer could muster.
Ambrose, driving the #21 Wood Brothers Ford, was easily the fastest road course expert AND ‘go or go home' driver in the field although he is by no means alone on the list of ‘hired guns' this weekend.
![Kasey Kahne. [Pic Credit image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/405825.jpg)
