NASCAR at Sonoma 2015 Qualifying Results: Race Order, Final Times, Reaction

NASCAR has descended on Sonoma Raceway in California for the first of this season's two road-course races. Saturday saw the drivers take to the track to qualify before Sunday's Toyota-Save Mart 350, with A.J. Allmendinger taking the pole with a speed of 96.310 mph.

According to Nick DeGroot of Motorsport.com, this marks Allmendinger's first pole win since 2012:

This is certainly a sentimental moment for Allmendinger, who is from California and will have the crowd on his side heading into Sunday. 

Allmendinger, who is ranked 22nd in the points standings and has two top-10 finishes in 15 races, will have to be on point because Kurt Busch will start in the second position. Busch has been on a roll in June, with a fifth-place finish at Pocono three weeks ago and a win at Michigan two weeks ago. 

Here's how the top 12 for Sunday's starting lineup at Sonoma wound up, with full results at NASCAR.com. 

Pos.	Driver	MPH
1	A.J. Allmendinger	96.310
2	Kurt Busch	96.095
3	Matt Kenseth	96.001
4	Kyle Larson	95.932
5	Jeff Gordon	95.905
6	Clint Bowyer	95.884
7	Tony Stewart	95.663
8	Casey Mears	95.563
9	David Ragan	95.497
10	Brad Keselowski	95.298
11	Kyle Busch	95.293
12	Martin Truex Jr.	95.177

Lower on the qualifying totem pole was Kyle Larson, who finished fourth overall despite a brilliant start in the first round. 

According to ESPN's Bob Pockrass, Larson set a track record during a qualifying lap:

Even though the 22-year-old was unable to keep up that pace in the final wave, he's got to feel good about his chances. Larson is seeking his first career NASCAR win despite 22 top-10 finishes. 

Fortunately, he doesn't seem concerned about not having tasted victory yet, telling Pockrass in an article on ESPN.com that wins will start coming. 

"

Nobody had very many expectations for me last year except for to not run good. Then we ran good and now everybody's expectations is for us to run up front every week.

My expectation has always been the same. That is to go out there and be top-10 each week and the wins will start coming. So we've just got to get back on that track and we'll be all right.

"

On the other side of the coin, it was a disappointing day for points leader Kevin Harvick, who didn't make the top 12 after the first round of qualifying. He was one of five notables who just missed cracking that group, per Fox Sports NASCAR:

Harvick never got out of the gate with any kind of momentum. As Stewart-Haas Racing noted on Twitter, he stopped on his first qualifying attempt when other cars got ahead of him:

In the final round of qualifying, things were briefly interrupted when Kyle Busch spun out on Turn 10, per Fox Sports NASCAR: 

There are usually weird things that tend to happen on road courses in NASCAR races. Saturday would qualify under normal circumstances, except Allmendinger has had success on this track in the past.

Speaking to Jeff Gluck of USA Today, Jeff Gordon declared Allmendinger to be the driver to beat at Sonoma on Sunday. 

"Nobody drives in the corners deeper than AJ does," Gordon said. "… Here I think there is a fine line and balance between (being aggressive). I think AJ has the skills to be the fastest and the best here this weekend. Then it's going to come down to executing that in the race."

Last year, Allmendinger led a race-high 35 laps before being hit by Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Lap 86 and spinning out. He would go on to finish 37th. He's got the right formula needed to win on this slower road course, but he ran into some bad luck last year. 

The rest of the NASCAR circuit will be looking at the No. 47 car on Sunday. Allmendinger should add a second victory to his mantle after last year's run at Watkins Glen, but the deep field right behind him will make sure it's a tense battle to the last lap.