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| Takuma Sato looks to sweep IndyCar's 500-mile races |
Charlie Kimball missed out on the front row by 0.026 MPH. This is Kimball's best starting position at Pocono. His previous best came in 2013 when he started 12th. This is the first time Kimball has started third in his IndyCar career. In his eight previous top five starts, Kimball has finished in the top ten six times. Tony Kanaan makes it an all-Ganassi row two. Kanaan matches his best starting position of the season, which occurred at Texas. This is the fourth time in five years Kanaan has started in the top ten at Pocono. Kanaan is attempting to become the eighth driver to win four 500-miles in a career. Will Power will start fifth. He won last year's Pocono race from eighth on the grid. Power could become the first driver to win consecutive years at Pocono. The only time Power won the 14th race of a season was at Sonoma in 2011. Alexander Rossi rounded out the top six. This is the third consecutive top ten start for Rossi. He led four laps in last year's race after starting seventh
Graham Rahal will start seventh. This is the sixth time Rahal has started seventh in his career. Only twice has Rahal finished in the top ten after starting seventh. He finished fourth in Mexico City in 2007 and he finished fifth at Mid-Ohio in 2014. Gabby Chaves will start eighth, a career-best for Chaves. This is the best qualifying effort for the Harding Racing team. His previous two starting positions this season were 25th at Indianapolis and 20th at Texas. Chaves could becoming the first driver to win with car #88 since Al Keller did it in a NASCAR Speedway Division race at Lakewood Speedway near Atlanta on June 8, 1952. Scott Dixon and Max Chilton make it an all-Ganassi row five. This is the first time Dixon has qualified in the top ten at Pocono. Dixon finished ninth at Mid-Ohio two weeks ago. Only once has Dixon won from ninth position. That was Sonoma 2015, where he took the title from Juan Pablo Montoya on tiebreaker. Chilton makes his tenth top ten start of the season. He had three all of his rookie year.
Ed Jones qualified 11th, the same position where he started in the Indianapolis 500 in May before finishing third. While having five top ten finishes this season, Jones has finished outside the top fifteen on seven occasions including the last three races. James Hinchcliffe joins Jones on the outside of row six. This is the fourth of five oval races in which Hinchcliffe has started outside the top ten. The only other two times Hinchcliffe started 12th in his career were in 2013 at Texas and Mid-Ohio, he finished ninth and tenth respectively in those two races. Esteban Gutiérrez starts 13th for the first 500-mile race of his IndyCar career. The only 500-mile IndyCar race won by a Mexican driver was the 1999 Motorola 500 held at Fontana. Adrián Fernández won that day from 13th on the grid. Josef Newgarden starts 14th. The only time Pocono has been won from 14th was in 1973 by A.J. Foyt after Roger McCluskey ran out of fuel while leading on the final lap.
Sebastián Saavedra's second start for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports will come from 15th on the grid. This is Saavedra's best starting position at Pocono and the 19th time top fifteen start of his IndyCar career while he has started outside the top twenty on 27 occasions. Marco Andretti will start 16th, the furthest back a Pocono winner has come from. Scott Dixon won from 16th in 2013. Andretti's most recent IndyCar victory came from 17th on the grid at Iowa in 2011. His grandfather Mario won the 1969 Pikes Peak Hill Climb after being the 16th starter. The furthest his father Michael won from was 15th at Long Beach in 2002, the final victory of his career. Conor Daly and Carlos Muñoz start on an all-Foyt row nine. Daly has qualified ahead of Muñoz in the last four races and the two drivers are now level as the top Foyt qualifier in seven races apiece. Both drivers have the same average starting position of 17.928. Muñoz has finished 15th in his previous two occasions starting 18th. It occurred at Milwaukee in 2015 and earlier this year in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
J.R. Hildebrand qualified 19th. This is the first time Hildebrand has started 19th on an oval. His best finish from 19th on the grid was seventh at Motegi in 2011. Hélio Castroneves and Ryan Hunter-Reay both had accidents in qualifying and will start 20th and 21st respectively. Ed Carpenter had an accident at the end of the first practice session and did not participate in qualifying and he will start 22nd. Castroneves and Carpenter each participated in the final practice session and they were fifth and 16th-fastest respectively. Hunter-Reay did not participate in the final practice as he was taken to Leigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest for X-rays. He has a torn muscle and has yet to be cleared to drive but it appears he will be good to go for the race.
NBCSN's coverage of the ABC Supply 500 from Pocono Raceway begins at 2:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 2:40 p.m. The race is scheduled for 200 laps.
