Will Power on Pole For Fontana

Penske Racing showed their muscle in qualifying, sweeping the front row for the MAVTV 500. Will Power won his third pole of the season with a two lap average of 220.775 MPH with teammates Helio Castroneves and AJ Allmendinger rounding out the top three times. Castroneves will however have to serve a ten spot grid penalty for an engine change.

Sébastien Bourdais was fourth fastest ahead of the Hondas of Charlie Kimball and James Jakes with Scott Dixon in seventh. Like Castroneves, Dixon will also be serving a ten spot grid penalty for an engine change. Marco Andretti was eighth fastest just ahead of the defending race winner at Fontana Ed Carpenter. Josef Newgarden was tenth but he will serve a ten spot grid penalty for an engine change.

James Hinchcliffe was eleventh ahead of Tony Kanaan who will, along with Dixon, be vying for the $250,000 bonus for taking two legs of the Triple Crown. The substitutes Alex Tagliani and Carlos Muñoz were thirteenth and fourteenth respectively ahead of the defending IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay in fifteenth. Simon Pagenaud was sixteenth ahead of Oriol Servià and Graham Rahal. Rahal will serve a ten spot grid penalty for an engine change.

JR Hildrebrand was nineteenth in his first qualifying session since Sonoma in August. 2013 IndyCar Rookie of the Year Tristan Vautier was twentieth ahead of Simona de Silvestro and Sebastián Saavedra. Saavedra will serve a ten spot grid penalty for an engine change.

Three drivers did not partake in qualifying. Justin Wilson's car lost power as he rolled out to beginning his qualifying run while Pippa Mann and Takuma Sato both missed after accidents in practice. Sato is also due to serve a ten spot grid penalty for an engine change.

The provisional starting grid for the MAVTV 500 should look like this (*- Ten spot grid penalty):

Row One:
1. Will Power
2. AJ Allmendinger
3. Sébastien Bourdais

Row Two:
4. Charlie Kimball
5. James Jakes
6. Marco Andretti

Row Three:
7. Ed Carpenter
8. James Hinchcliffe
9. Tony Kanaan

Row Four:
10. Alex Tagliani
11. Carlos Muñoz
12. Helio Castroneves*

Row Five:
13. Ryan Hunter-Reay
14. Simon Pagenaud
15. Oriol Servià

Row Six:
16. JR Hildebrand
17. Scott Dixon*
18. Tristan Vautier

Row Seven:
19. Simona de Silvestro
20. Josef Newgarden*
21. Justin Wilson

Row Eight:
22. Pippa Mann
23. Graham Rahal*
24. Sebastián Saavedra*

Row Nine:
25. Takuma Sato*

IndyCar final practice is tonight at 9:05 p.m. ET. NBCSN's live coverage of the 2013 Izod IndyCar Season Finale, the MAVTV 500 from Auto Club Speedway will begin at 8:00 p.m. ET with green flag around 9:16 p.m. ET.