During NASCAR‘s testing of the Next Gen car ahead of its début season in 2022, among the sanctioning body’s talking points to develop hype was the intention of making a car that is more difficult to drive. Whether it be for that or Auto Club Speedway‘s aging surface or some other reason, drivers certainly seemed to have a hard time manoeuvring it during Saturday’s Cup Series practice and qualifying session.

Multiple drivers were involved in spins or accidents that stem from the Next Gen car having significantly less downforce than its predecessor, among other factors that increase its difficulty to control. Ross Chastain slammed into the wall during practice, while Kevin Harvick and Chris Buescher both spun in the session. Victims in qualifying included Aric Almirola, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, and Brad Keselowski, the latter’s tyres also going down after his spin and causing his car to be beached on the backstretch infield. By the end of the day, Austin Cindric‘s burgeoning Cup career continued to take off as the rookie backed up last week’s Daytona 500 victory by winning his first pole in just his ninth start.

“I think [the increased driving difficulty is] enjoyable to a certain extent,” commented Cindric. “The hard-to-drive part is different than in years past when you go to Darlington or Fontana or Atlanta in the past it was hard to drive but controllable. I think with this car you don’t have as much sidewall deflection and you don’t have the side force. You’re hard to drive is defined by different things. I am not going to sit here and tell you that I know what all those things are. You have to be somewhat conservative in some areas and somewhat aggressive in other areas. I was having to talk myself into my lap because I wasn’t aggressive enough in a lot of areas. I think the learning process is different for every driver and every team. You key off different things and there is a lot that is different right now.”

Cindric is the first Team Penske driver to win the Cup pole at Fontana since Kurt Busch in the 2007 fall race, but the first in the spring event since Ryan Newman in 2002.

“Yhe last time I approached a qualifying session having to talk myself into my own lap as much as I had to today was back when I raced U.S. F2000 in 2013 or 2014 and went to IRP the night before the 500,” he added. “I know that is probably gibberish to the entire NASCAR fan base but that is what today reminded me of. There is so much learning and so much going on and it is all happening really fast. As a driver, you can’t be distracted by the crashes or mistakes or the short amount of time. I had all the data I needed today to learn what I needed to do and go apply it. It is fun to be able to go do that.”

The chaos of the qualifying session led to a bizarre top five as Erik Jones qualified second, placing the legendary #43 on the front row for the first time since Almirola at Chicagoland Speedway in 2012. While the #43 started first at the 2013 fall race at Talladega, qualifing was rained out and it is therefore not considered an official pole. Cindric’s #2 and the #43 also marked the first front row with the two numbers since Keselowski and A.J. Allmendinger achieved the feat in the 2011 Coca-Cola 600. Jones also secured his first front-row start since qualifying runner-up at the 2019 AAA Texas 500, and the fifth such run of his Cup career.

Daniel Hemric qualified fifth for his fifth top-five start; the first four all came during his only full Cup season in 2019. His Kaulig Racing team had its fifth Cup top ten start and fourth with an actual qualifying session after Allmendinger qualified seventh, third, and eighth at COTA, Road America, and Indianapolis in 2021.

Busch did not set a qualifying time after failing inspection multiple times on Friday.

Qualifying results

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Best Time	Best Speed (mph)
1	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	41.226	174.647
2	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	41.342	174.157
3	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	41.437	173.758
4	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	41.529	173.373
5	16	Daniel Hemric*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	41.585	173.139
6	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	41.588	173.127
7	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	42.197	170.628
8	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	41.177	174.855
9	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	41.403	173.900
10	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	41.478	173.586
11	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	41.516	173.427
12	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	41.517	173.423
13	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	41.594	173.102
14	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	41.634	172.936
15	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	41.636	172.927
16	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	41.678	172.753
17	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	41.688	172.712
18	42	Ty Dillon	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	41.777	172.344
19	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	41.888	171.887
20	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	41.888	171.887
21	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	41.940	171.674
22	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	41.989	171.473
23	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	42.056	171.200
24	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	42.140	170.859
25	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	42.188	170.665
26	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	42.505	169.392
27	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	42.634	168.879
28	77	Josh Bilicki*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	42.957	167.609
29	15	Garrett Smithley	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	43.953	163.811
30	78	B.J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	44.103	163.254
31	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	No Time	N/A
32	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	No Time	N/A
33	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	No Time	N/A
34	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	No Time	N/A
35	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	No Time	N/A
36	45	Kurt Busch	23XI Racing	Toyota	No Time	N/A

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Cup points