March 2012 Pole Sitter: #11-Denny Hamlin, 186.403, finished 11th

Fastest First Practice Speed: #15-Bowyer, 185.414mph, scheduled to qualify 9th out of 43 drivers

NOTE: not doing semi-live qualifying anymore. WIth NASCAR.com and FoxSports having realtime qualifying and hits for my qualifying pages way down due to the availabilty of the real-time qualifying found elsewhere, not worth the time.
Will still post my unique qualifying results here, to help explain how drivers make the race.
For Realtime qualifying, check out:
NASCAR.com
FoxSports

Hamlin wins Auto Club pole: #11-Denny Hamlin won the pole for the Auto Club 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway with speed of 187.451mph for his 1st pole of 2013 and 13th of his career. #16-Biffle is on the outside pole, followed by #2-Keselowski, #18-Busch, #20-Kenseth, #22-Logano, #56-Truex Jr., #14-Stewart, #55-Martin and #78-Busch. Both #16-Biffle and #2-Keselowski had engines changes before qualifying and will have to fall to the rear of the field before the start of the race on Sunday, but will get to chose good pit stalls. No cars / drivers missed the race as there were 43 cars entered for 43 spots.(3-22-2013)

Qualifying Fast Facts - Auto Club:
#11-Denny Hamlin won the Coors Light Pole Award for the 17th Annual Auto Club 400 with a lap of 38.410 seconds, 187.451 mph.
This is his 13th pole in 264 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
This is his first pole and fourth top-10 start in 2013.
This is his third pole in 13 races at Auto Club Speedway. Hamlin won the pole for last year's Auto Club Speedway event.
#16-Greg Biffle (second) posted his third top-10 start of 2013 and his 10th in 19 races at Auto Club Speedway.
#2-Brad Keselowski (third) posted his first top-10 start at Auto Club Speedway. It is his third in five races this season.
#17-Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (31st) was the fastest qualifying rookie.(NASCAR Statistics)(3-22-2013)

Coverage of Qualifying for the Auto Club 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway is scheduled for Friday, March 22, 2013 at 7:10pm/et.
Television (TV): SPEED, 7:00pm/et
Radio: Motor Racing Network, 7:00pm/et
Scheduled Qualifying Re-Air: on SPEED at 11:00pm/et

Pole Progression: (who had the pole first, who got it next and who ended up with it)
#48-Johnson, 1st out to qualify, 184.044mph, starting 18th
#11-Hamlin, 18th out, 187.451, starts 1st - on the pole

Friday practice for the Auto Club 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway is over, after 120 scheduled minutes, the top five, slowest and notes:
#15-Bowyer 185.414
#11-Hamlin 184.824
#51-Allmendinger 184.611
#18-Busch 184.554
#22-Logano 184.403
slowest: #87-Nemechek 174.834 & #38-Gilliland 175.859
notes: #16-Biffle lost an engine aboutr 13 minutes into practice an the team is putting in a fresh powerplant in the hopes of getting a few practice laps on the engine before qualifying, scheduled for 7:10pm/et tonight. #16-Biffle did get on the track late in practice and ran 6th fastest with the new engine. #2-Kesekowski's team will change an engine before qualifying. So both #16-Biffle and #2-Keselowski will have to start the race on Sunday at the rear of the field. They will be qualifying for their pit position.
See fastest speeds, laps run and more on the Auto Club 400 Practice 1 Speeds page (pdf).(3-22-2013)

Race info at: Race Info Page

Event Entry List

Qualifying Rules

Past Champions Provisional

All Time Sprint Cup Pole Winners

Qualifying order is back to the old way, a randon draw. Someone from the team draws a bingo like ball just before the first practice of the event.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying rules for 2013: (except Daytona 500)
1) Starting positions 1 through 36 determined by the fastest qualifying speeds in descending order with the fast qualifier being first.
2) Starting positions 37 through 42) will be provisional starting positions that were not among the fastest 36 from qualifying. Provisional starting positions will be assigned to the highest ranked NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship car owners who are present at the Event and have entered the Event by the entry deadline and will be assigned in descending order until the six (6) provisional spots are filled.
3) If positions 37 - 42 are not filled by eligible car owners, the remaining positions will be assigned to car owners based on qualifying results.
NOTE: Once provisional starting positions have been assigned, the cars will be placed in the starting lineup by their qualifying speed in descending order with the fastest qualifying speed starting thirty-seventh.
4) If after starting positions 1 through 42 are assigned and there remains a car owner whose driver is the current or a former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion who participated as a driver in the previous NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season and who was entered in the Event for that owner in that car prior to the entry deadline, a 43rd provisional starting position, the "Champion's Provisional", will be assigned to that car owner. The most recent NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion driver not previously qualifying for positions 1 through 42 will be assigned the position. 5) If the 43rd provisional starting position is not filled by an eligible NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, it will be assigned to the next highest ranked car owner based on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship car owner points.
6) If any starting positions remain unfilled, they will be assigned according to current calendar year NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship car owner point standings.
7) If any starting positions remain unfilled, they will be assigned to the car owners who have made the greatest number of qualifying attempts during the current season.
8) If any starting positions remain unfilled, they will be assigned to cars in order (1,2,3&etc.) in which their numbers were selected in the qualifying draw.
NOTE: Until the completion of three races of the current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, the final previous season NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship car owner point standings will be used for determining the starting positions for the highest ranked car owners as described above.

If practice and qualifying are cancelled [rain, etc], the following procedure is used:
1) For the first three races of the current season the top 36 teams in the previous season owner points would make the race [team doesn't have to had run all the races in that season]. After the first three races of the current season, the top 36 teams in the current season owners points, would make the race.
2) Then any winning driver or team owner from 2012 or 2013, as well as any past champions, make the field.
3) Then, for the first three races of the current season, any of the top 36 teams in owner points for this year would make the field.
4) Then it goes to qualifying attempts this year, with ties broken by owner points.

If first practice is run, but qualifying is unable to take place, the starting lineup will be based on speeds from the car's fastest lap from the first practice, with top-36 in speeds placed in that order. The next six cars use provisionals with the highest on owners points (previous season first three races, starting race 4, current season owners points), not already in the race via speed getting a spot. Then the those six cars are lined up by fastest speed in practice. The 43rd spot is for a past champion to use, if needed. If not, the next team eligible for a provisional gets the spot.

More info on Past Champions Provisonal and rules and limits on my 2013 Past Champions Provisional Page