Jimmie Johnson's quest to win a record fourth consecutive Cup title remains intact, but in the back of his mind. Front and center is winning on a road course.

Johnson has failed to find Victory Lane in 15 career starts over the sweeping courses at Sonoma and Watkins Glen, the only road races on the Cup schedule, and for this former champion off-road racer that lack of success grates like nothing else.

"It's been shocking to me. It really gets under my skin," said Johnson, who began racing motocross at age 5 and has won six off-road championships. "It's surprising that I have not been better on a road course in a Cup car. I think that we're getting closer and closer. At Sonoma [in June], we overcame a lot and finished fourth. It left me extremely optimistic for this race."

So, too, did qualifying. Johnson won his first road-course pole Friday, putting him in the catbird seat -- at least at the start of the 90-lap race today around the 11-turn, 2.45-mile circuit in upstate New York. The trick will be to remain there, and with Kurt Busch starting alongside Johnson on the front row, that might be difficult. The two spun together and tangled at Sonoma in June, and Busch was fuming with Johnson after some late-race bumping at Chicagoland a month ago.

Factor in aggressive Marcos Ambrose, who starts right behind the leaders in fourth, and the chance for an early altercation rises. Ambrose finished third at Watkins Glen a year ago after starting last and knows this might be his best chance at getting that first Cup victory.

"This place is going to be pretty interesting," Juan Pablo Montoya said. "If you ratchet it up, you're going to DNF."

It might not take long for tempers to flare. The first turn at Watkins Glen International is a bumpy 90-degree right-hander with a large runoff area, and it represents one of the prime places to pass.

"You can go four-wide into Turn 1 and not pay a huge consequence," Busch said. "But four-wide is starting to push it. The guy on the inside is going to win, the guy on the outside is going to end up in the fence."

Blame Jeff Gordon for the turmoil in that turn over the past decade. He opened a lot of eyes when he passed Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace, two of NASCAR's most-accomplished road racers, in a daring move in that turn when he began his dominance on the road courses in the late 1990s.

Ambrose won the Zippo 200 in the Nationwide Series for the second year in a row at Watkins Glen International. Ambrose held off series points leader Kyle Busch after a late restart. It was the 10th consecutive top-two finish in Nationwide for Busch, breaking the series record set by Jack Ingram in 1983. Carl Edwards was third, followed by Kevin Harvick and Canadian road racer Ron Fellows.

IndyCar points leader Ryan Briscoe captured the pole for the Indy 200 today at Mid-Ohio in Lexington. Briscoe turned in a lap of 121.905 mph over the winding 2.258-mile course, narrowly beating out Justin Wilson to take his third pole of the season. Scott Dixon and Graham Rahal will start in the second row, followed by Helio Castroneves and Dario Franchitti in the third row.

Briscoe will be looking for his third win of the season and second in a row after edging Ed Carpenter a week ago at Kentucky.

It's the kind of season Briscoe knew he was capable of, one that has offered plenty of proof that he finally is ready to fill the shoes of Sam Hornish Jr., whom Briscoe replaced when Hornish decided to move to NASCAR after the 2007 season.

Briscoe is the defending champion at Mid-Ohio.