Vickers lapped the 1.99-mile, 12-turn road course at 93.678 m.p.h. (76.475 seconds) in his No.83 Red Bull Toyota. He also won the pole last weekend at Michigan.

"I just didn't want to make any mistakes," Vickers said. "When I finished the lap, I was kind of thinking it was a decent lap. I felt there was some corners that I could have gone faster."

Kyle Busch, the defending race winner, grabbed the outside pole after turning in a lap at 93.415 m.p.h. (76.690 seconds). Busch improved significantly from last year's practice and qualifying at Sonoma.

"It was definitely a good practice for us, better than last year," Busch said. "We came out of the box struggling here last year, and this year we came back with what we raced last year, and it was really good during the qualifying run."

Busch overcame a 30th starting position to win at Sonoma one year ago, capturing his fifth Sprint Cup victory of the season.

Marcos Ambrose qualified third, giving Toyota the top-three starting positions. Ambrose, a former Australian road racer, finished a career-best third in the most recent road-course event last August at Watkins Glen, NY.

"I'm going to go into Sunday very relaxed and try to take over some laps," Ambrose said.

Points leader Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-five.

Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Newman, Elliott Sadler, Boris Said and Matt Kenseth qualified sixth through 10th, respectively.

Three-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson will start 11th, while his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, a five-time Sonoma winner, will roll off 13th.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. struggled in qualifying with a 35th starting position.

Scott Speed, Tom Hubert, Chris Cook and Brian Simo failed to qualify.

Sunday's race is scheduled to start just after 5:00 p.m. (et).