NASCAR at California 2015 Results: Race Order, Final Times and Twitter Reaction

Coming off a top-five finish in his first race back from a three-race suspension, Kurt Busch won the pole at Auto Club Speedway with a top speed of 185.142 mph and time of 38.889 seconds. 

The pole win was Busch's first since 2013 in Darlington. Though it was his first pole in nearly two years, it was a familiar place for Busch at Auto Club Speedway, via NASCAR Stats:

It was also a huge momentum swing for the embattled team after a trying start to the season. Still getting the opportunity to retain his ride, thanks to Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner Gene Haas, that was the first person Busch thanked after winning the pole:

With brother Kyle Busch still out recovering from a broken leg and foot, it's fitting that a Busch brother would be at the top of the leaderboard to start the race. After all, Kyle's name has been up front for the last two seasons in Fontana.

Just behind Busch on Sunday will be Kevin Harvick, who has been on a streak of two straight wins in Las Vegas and Phoenix. He also has seven consecutive top-two results dating back to last year, so it's hard to envision him falling much lower than the runner-up spot.

Harvick narrowly edged out Matt Kenseth, David Ragan and Kyle Larson, who rounded out the top five. Here's a look at the qualifying results for Sunday's Auto Club 400. Full results can be found at NASCAR.com.

Pos.	Driver	Behind
1	Kurt Busch	LEADER
2	Kevin Harvick	.020
3	Matt Kenseth	.037
4	David Ragan	.054
5	Kyle Larson	.170
6	Denny Hamlin	.192
7	Jeff Gordon	.223
8	Brad Keselowski	.228
9	Ryan Newman	.300
10	Clint Bowyer	.368
11	Paul Menard	.373
12	Martin Truex Jr.	.391
13	Joey Logano	N/A
14	Jimmie Johnson	N/A
15	Carl Edwards	N/A
16	Sam Hornish Jr.	N/A
17	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	N/A
18	A.J. Allmendinger	N/A
19	Kasey Kahne	N/A
20	Tony Stewart	N/A

One driver who was noticeably missing from the track was Brian Vickers. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver had to undergo heart surgery during the offseason. Despite returning to the sport two weeks ago in Las Vegas, he is suffering from another blood clot.

Waltrip spoke about his driver following the announcement that he will be removed from the car for the Fontana race, via Jeff Gluck of USA Today:

"

He is more susceptible to clots than you and I are. We knew that could be an issue. Are we surprised? Yes. Did we think it would happen? No.

We support Brian. We love his heart. We love who he is. This is all very fluid and new information. We're learning as we go.

"

In his place, Brett Moffitt will move back over from Front Row Motorsports to drive in Vickers' car. Moffitt finished seventh in Atlanta for MWR, but he qualified 30th in Vickers' car on Friday night after hitting the wall hard coming out of Turn 4.

Chris Buescher, who is currently second in the Xfinity standings, replaced Moffitt in the No. 34 machine. He is the third driver to get behind the wheel for the Front Row car—Ragan took over for Kyle Busch—and qualified 33rd for the Fontana race.

Just ahead of Moffitt in qualifying was veteran Greg Biffle. While Moffitt is just excited to remain at the Sprint Cup level, Biffle is clearly unhappy with the performance he's getting out of his Roush Fenway Racing car.

Since his strong showing in the Daytona 500—qualifying eighth and finishing 10th—Biffle hasn't had any speed in the last three races. Following his poor qualifying run, Biffle voiced his frustrations, via Fox Sports: NASCAR:

"

"This is unacceptable ... we are dying a slow death"- @gbiffle after qualifying 29th at @ACSupdates. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/lG1PW1HlG0

— FOX SPORTS: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 21, 2015"

When teammate Carl Edwards left Roush last season for Joe Gibbs Racing to join Kenseth, Biffle remained with the team. Though he's gotten off to a slow start, matters could be much worse than sitting on the edge of the Chase Grid at 16th place.

In order for Biffle or anyone else to secure a spot in the Chase, they'll have to catch the No. 41 car on Sunday in Fontana. Along with Busch, Harvick is also on a winning streak and has a great history at Auto Club Speedway with a win in the past.

For the final leg of NASCAR's trip over to the West Coast, a lot will be on the line for every driver looking to earn their place in the postseason. Busch and Larson came close last season, so both might be candidates to pull off their first wins of the season in the loaded field.

Follow @RCorySmith on Twitter.