Kyle Busch, 19, Blazes His Own Trail

Rookie Kyle Busch, 19-year-old brother of NASCAR Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch, made a name for himself Saturday at California Speedway when he qualified ahead of his elders to win the pole for today’s Auto Club 500.

When the Las Vegas teenager clocked a lap of 188.245 mph around the two-mile D-shaped oval in the No. 5 Kellogg’s Chevrolet, he not only broke the track’s record but became the youngest driver ever to qualify for a Cup race. Donald Thomas, who was 20 when he won the pole at Lakewood (Ga.) Speedway in 1952, had been the youngest.

“That’s pretty early in his career to be sitting on a pole,” said Kurt Busch, who will start on the 10th row after a 185.615-mph lap in his Sharpie Ford. Kurt, 26, was 23 when he won his first Cup pole.

Brian Vickers, 21, will start alongside Kyle, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, making it the youngest front row in Cup history. Vickers ran 187.740.

Four drivers, including Jeremy Mayfield, 187.612 in a Dodge, and Joe Nemechek, 187.539 in a Chevrolet, bettered Ryan Newman’s track record of 187.432 set in 2002.

California Speedway has become a Mecca for rookie pole winners. Busch is the third in a row, after Kasey Kahne and Vickers.

“It’s definitely an awesome opportunity for the two of us,” Busch said, referring to his rookie crew chief, Alan Gustafson, 29.

“Obviously, to sit on the pole at the first downforce track of the year, and our second race together, hopefully it means there are many more successes to follow.”

This wasn’t the first time Kyle Busch had run fast at Fontana. In 2001 he had the fastest Craftsman truck in practice but was not allowed to qualify because he was only 16 and the race weekend was being sponsored by Marlboro, a tobacco product.

“My dad is asking if this makes up for 2001,” he said. “It was just a tremendous devastation. We were fastest in practice that day. We weren’t fastest in practice yesterday, but we’re the fastest today. We’re on the pole, we’re taking it home, and I’m looking forward to running up front tomorrow.”

Qualifying was not kind to some of the favorites. Defending champion Jeff Gordon, last week’s Daytona 500 winner, will start 28th, Tony Stewart 29th, Michael Waltrip 30th, Kevin Harvick 31st and Dale Earnhardt Jr. 40th.