Brooklyn, MI (My Sportsbook) - Brian Vickers edged Kyle Busch in Friday's Sprint Cup Series qualifying at Michigan International Speedway to grab the pole for the LifeLock 400.
Vickers lapped the fast two-mile oval at 189.110 m.p.h. (38.073 seconds) in his No.83 Red Bull Toyota for his third pole of the season and the eighth of his Sprint Cup career. He also captured his second pole at Michigan, with his first coming here in August 2008.
"We've had two really good qualifying efforts here," Vickers said. "We've always run really well here, and we thought we had a win here last year. There was a mixup at the end of the race with the positioning on the last restart, but hopefully we can get it back today."
Vickers finished seventh in the August race at Michigan in '08.
Last week, NASCAR's rule change for restarts went into effect at Pocono, with lead-lap cars lining up side-by-side just before the green flag waves.
Busch took the outside pole after turning in a lap at 188.536 m.p.h. (38.189 seconds), giving Toyota a front row sweep at Michigan.
"We were happy with it," Busch said. "Basically, we unloaded (the car) off the truck today in race trim, so hopefully we'll be faster (in final practice) tomorrow and be better for Sunday."
Three-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson qualified third, followed by David Reutimann and Kurt Busch.
AJ Allmendinger, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kasey Kahne, Clint Bowyer and John Andretti completed the top-10.
Tony Stewart, the current points leader and last weekend's winner at Pocono, will start 11th.
Jeff Gordon qualified 27th, but will have to start the 400-mile race from the rear of the field after an engine change prior to qualifying. A faulty oil pump belt forced Gordon's motor to blow during practice earlier in the day.
Carl Edwards, winner here last August, will start 29th, while Dale Earnhardt Jr., the defending race winner, will roll off 30th.
Mike Skinner was the only driver who failed to qualify.
Sunday's race is scheduled to start just after 2:00 p.m. (et).
