(Sports Network) - Days after being involved in "the big one" during the Daytona 500, Brian Vickers rebounded by taking the pole for the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway, but he won't start from the front of the field Sunday.

Even though Vickers officially won the pole, he will start last in the 43-car field. That's because about an hour after the race Vickers' team found a problem with the engine of his No.83 Red Bull Racing Toyota. Because of the engine switch, he has to start last, while three-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson will lead the field to the green flag.

Before the problem, Vickers turned in the quickest lap in qualifying at 39.250 seconds (183.439 m.p.h.) for his sixth career pole in the Sprint Cup Series and his second at the two-mile Southern California track.

"We had a good car in practice, but honestly I didn't think it was a pole car," Vickers said. "We were a little too tight. We made some changes after practice, which obviously worked well. That car was just on rails in qualifying."

Shortly before rain fell on Daytona International Speedway, which gave Matt Kenseth his first victory in the Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Vickers, both a lap behind, were battling for position, with Vickers blocking Earnhardt Jr. and forcing him below the yellow line.

As Earnhardt Jr. came back onto the track, he hit the back of Vickers' car and put him into a spin, which then triggered a 10-car pileup.

Earnhardt Jr. suffered no damage to his car and continued on, but Vickers' day ended prematurely with a 39th-place finish.

Vickers will initially head the field, but once the cars start rolling right before the race, he'll drop back to the last spot.

Johnson posted the second best lap at 39.309 seconds, while Jamie McMurray had the next-best time.

"It was a good lap," Johnson said. "I missed (turns) one and two a little bit and I think that kind of hurt me in the end. The only other thing I can think of is Vickers and I went to In-N-Out Burger last night and I had the double- double and he had a single. So for 5/100 of a second, I guess that extra patty killed me."

Johnson, from nearby El Cajon, CA, has won three times at his home track, including a victory there last August.

Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle were the next-quickest qualifiers.

Jeff Gordon, David Reutimann, AJ Allmendinger, Scott Speed and Kyle Busch, who won the pole for the Camping World Truck Series race earlier in the day, completed the top-10.

Other drivers of note and their starting positions include: Tony Stewart (11th), Mark Martin (18th), Kevin Harvick (19th), Kenseth (24th), Carl Edwards (25th), Earnhardt Jr. (35th) and Jeff Burton (41st).

Todd Bodine, Tony Raines, David Starr, Mike Garvey and Sterling Marlin all failed to qualify.

Roush Fenway Racing has been dominant at California, winning the last four February races there. Biffle won at California in 2005, while Kenseth scored back-to-back victories there from 2006-07. Edwards is the defending race champion.

The green flag for Sunday's race is scheduled to drop around 6:00 p.m. (et).





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