FONTANA, Calif. ? Youth conquered all Friday in qualifying for the NAPA Auto Parts 500 at California Speedway.

Twentysomethings Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch were at the top Friday as five drivers broke the stock-car qualifying record on the 2-mile oval built by Roger Penske, Newman’s car owner.

The 24-year-old Newman, battling 26-year-old Jimmie Johnson for rookie of the year honors in the Winston Cup Series, grabbed his second career pole with a lap of 187.432 mph.

Busch, 23 and in his second season in NASCAR’s top series, made it a Ford sweep of the front row at 187.412, followed by the Taurus of Dale Jarrett at 186.853 and the Chevrolets of Johnson at 186.620 and 31-year-old Jerry Nadeau at 186.244.

All of them surpassed the previous record of 186.061, set in 2000 by Mike Skinner.

With Elliott Sadler and Dale Earnhardt Jr., a pair of 27-year-olds, seventh and ninth, half the top 10 for Sunday’s 500-mile race is made up of NASCAR’s young guns.

“It’s just coincidence,” Newman said. “There’s a bigger quantity of young drivers now and it’s not so unusual that sometimes there’s a bunch near the top.”

The 45-year-old Jarrett, a former series champion, didn’t necessarily agree with Newman’s assessment.

“That’s becoming a common thing, starting behind these guys,” Jarrett said. “Usually, I’m way behind them. They’ve got good cars and know what to do with them.

“I definitely bumped up the average in the top five when I got out there.”