Los Gatos native Allmendinger is ‘the man to beat’
Being dubbed the man to beat’’ in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 by no less an authority than Jeff Gordon didn’t seem to put undue pressure on A.J. Allmendinger.
The Los Gatos native won the pole for the 27th annual Sprint Cup race at Sonoma Raceway Saturday by peeling off a best lap of 1:04.385 with a speed of 96.310 mph.
Kurt Busch, the 2011 race winner, qualified second and Matt Kenseth third.
Elk Grove’s Kyle Larson finished fourth after setting a track record with a 96.568 mph lap in the first round.
Gordon, in his final season before retiring, put himself in fine position to shoot for his sixth Sonoma win by qualifying fifth (95.905).
Busch had to maneuver through a cloud of smoke caused when his younger brother, Kyle, spun out on turn 10 in round 2.
The red flag wiped out what could have been a terrific lap for Kurt Busch.
After many years of moving from one team to another and after dealing with a 2012 suspension after testing positive for amphetamines, he signed a long-term deal with JTG Daugherty Racing before last season.
Defending series champion and current points leader Kevin Harvick will start 17th.
Among the fan favorites, Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified 20th, just ahead of Danica Patrick.
At a question-and-answer session attended by about 1,000 fans Saturday morning, Gordon was asked how his children were reacting to his impending retirement.
In a wild finish, David Mayhew took the lead from Dalton Sargeant with two laps to go and narrowly held him off in the Carneros 200 K&N Pro Series West race.
Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
Circuit: 10-turn, 1.99-mile road course