Morning Warm-Up: Sonoma 2014

Will Power is going for his 4th victory in 2014 and is starting on his 4th pole position of 2014

For the fourth time in 2014, Will Power starts on pole position as the Australian looks to further secure his championship lead over his Team Penske teammate Hélio Castroneves. Power has finished first or second in the last four Sonoma races. He currently has a 40-point lead over Castroneves in the Verizon IndyCar Series championship standings after winning pole position. Josef Newgarden starts on the outside of row one for the third time in 2014. He started second at Texas and Mid-Ohio and was in contention for the victory at Mid-Ohio three weeks ago until a error in the pit lane cost him. Sonoma marks the 50th career start for Newgarden in IndyCar.

Scott Dixon starts third. The New Zealander has six consecutive top ten finishes as he sits sixth in the championship standings. James Hinchcliffe starts fourth. The Canadian has the third best average starting position amongst full-time drivers but has the fifteenth best average finish. The Canadian has two top tens in three Sonoma starts.

Ryan Briscoe starts fifth. The Australian has four Sonoma podiums and his last IndyCar victory came at Sonoma in 2012. The furthest back a winner has come from on the grid at Sonoma is fifth. Hélio Castroneves starts sixth. When the green flag falls, his gap to Power will increase from 40 points to 62 points. The Brazilian has four consecutive top ten finishes at Sonoma.

Sébastien Bourdais starts seventh. The Frenchman has two top tens in three Sonoma starts. He is joined on row four by 2005 Sonoma winner Tony Kanaan. The driver of the #10 Target Chevrolet has six top tens in nine Sonoma starts. Row five features Andretti Autosport drivers Carlos Muñoz and Ryan Hunter-Reay. This is Muñoz's first appearance at the track formerly known as Sears Point. Hunter-Reay is looking for his first career top five at Sonoma. He scored his best finish at the track came last year when he finished sixth.

Charlie Kimball starts eleventh. This is his best starting position on a road/street course this season. His previous best was thirteenth in Houston 2. Mikhail Aleshin will start on his outside of row six. Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal make it an all-American row seven. Andretti finished fourth last year after starting eleventh. It was his first top ten at Sonoma since his victory at the track in 2006. Sonoma marks the 150th career start for Andretti in IndyCar. Rahal has four top tens in six Sonoma starts.

Simon Pagenaud starts on the inside of row eight. The Frenchman trails Power by 92 points in the championship standings. When the green flag waves, Pagenaud's gap to Power will increase to 128 points. Justin Wilson will roll off from sixteenth on the grid. This is Wilson's sixth appearance at Sonoma and in each of his even starts he has started outside the top ten while on each of his odd starts he has started seventh. Wilson's worst Sonoma finish is eleventh and he finished second last year.

Mike Conway and Jack Hawksworth make it an all-British row nine. Conway's lone top tens this year are his two victories at Long Beach and Toronto. Hawksworth will be making his first appearance at Sonoma. Conway's and Hawksworth's average finish this year are 12.81 and 12.86 respectively. Juan Pablo Montoya starts nineteenth and he will be joined on row ten by Takuma Sato. This is the second time this season Montoya and Sato will start on the same row. The both started on row eight at Long Beach. In 59 Formula One Grand Prix the Colombian and Japanese driver both started in together they started on the same row once, the 2005 Canadian Grand Prix when Montoya started fifth and Sato started sixth.

The final row features Colombians Carlos Huertas and Sebastián Saavedra. Huertas' best finish since winning Houston 1 is fourteenth in Toronto 1. Saavedra's lone top ten this season was at the first California race this season, a ninth place finish at Long Beach. At Long Beach, all four Colombians finished in the top ten.

NBCSN's coverage of the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma begins at 4:00 p.m. ET with green flag at 4:40 p.m. ET.