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| Rain puts Josef Newgarden on Pocono pole position |
Alexander Rossi joins Newgarden on the front row. Head-to-head his season, Newgarden has finished ahead of Rossi in seven of 13 races but Rossi has finished ahead of Newgarden in four of the last six races. The two times Newgarden topped Rossi in the last six races were Newgarden's victories at Texas and Iowa. Rossi has not led a lap in the last three races and the last time Rossi did not lead a lap in three consecutive races he went on to win the following two races. He did not lead a lap at Road America, Iowa and Toronto last year before he went on to win at Mid-Ohio and Pocono. Rossi could join Will Power as the only drivers to win consecutive Pocono races. In three starts at Pocono, Rossi has led 228 laps, leading all drivers since 2013. While Newgarden was 17th in practice, Rossi was fourth.
Simon Pagenaud and Scott Dixon will start on the second row. Pagenaud has two top five finishes on ovals this season and his most top five finishes on ovals in a single season is four, which occurred in 2017. Pagenaud's only top five finish at Pocono was fourth in 2017 but he has five top ten finishes in six Pocono starts. Dixon enters Pocono with finishes of second, second and first in his last three races. Dixon has not had four consecutive podium finishes since the end of the 2011 and start of the 2012 season when he won at Motegi, finished third at Kentucky and then finished second at St. Petersburg and Barber. Chip Ganassi Racing is coming off a 1-2 finish at Mid-Ohio. It was the team's first 1-2 finish since Texas in 2015. Pagenaud had gremlins hamper him at the start of Saturday's practice but when things were squared away he was fifth fastest, however, Dixon was second quickest.
Will Power will start fifth. Power is one of two drivers to have completed all 1,160 laps at Pocono since IndyCar's return in 2013. Dixon is the other driver. Power has three consecutive podium finishes, four consecutive top five finishes and he has finished in the top ten in all six of his Pocono starts. He has started in the top ten in all six Pocono starts and he has led a lap in all six Pocono races since 2013. Next to Power on row three will be Ryan Hunter-Reay. Hunter-Reay is coming off a third place finish at Mid-Ohio. Hunter-Reay has twice won the race after Mid-Ohio. He won at Loudon in 2011 after a third place finish at Mid-Ohio and he won at Pocono in 2015 after a seventh place finish at Mid-Ohio. Hunter-Reay has won the 14th race of a season only one time in his career and that was at Baltimore in 2012. Power was 20th in practice while Hunter-Reay was ninth.
The qualifying wash out puts the two Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing cars on row four with Takuma Sato starting seventh and Graham Rahal in eighth. Sato has completed only 493 of a possible 1,160 laps in six Pocono starts. Sato has completed all 500 miles twice at Pocono but he has completed 25 laps or fewer three times at the track. To top it all off, Sato started in the top ten in all six Pocono starts entering 2019! Rahal has an average finish of 15.2 at Pocono in six starts. Of the tracks where Rahal has made at least three starts, the only tracks where he has a worst average finish than Pocono is Kentucky at 15.5 and Indianapolis at 18.2. His father Bobby won at Pocono in 1988 and Bobby had six top five finishes and seven top ten finishes in eight Pocono starts. Rahal was tenth in practice while Sato was 18th.
Felix Rosenqvist will start ninth with James Hinchcliffe rounding out the top ten. Rosenqvist is coming off his career best finish of second at Mid-Ohio but he has finished at least two laps down in his first three oval starts. His average finish in three oval starts is 18th. Hinchcliffe is coming off his 19th finish outside the top twenty in 135 IndyCar starts. On three occasions Hinchcliffe has rebounded from a finish outside the top twenty with a podium finish, including a victory at São Paulo in 2013, third in the second Houston race in 2014 and third in the first Belle Isle race in 2017. Hinchcliffe has finished 20th or worse three times at Pocono and his best finish at the track is tenth. Rosenqvist was 11th in practice with Hinchcliffe in 13th.
Sébastien Bourdais starts on the inside of row six. Bourdais has led a lap in only four races this season and the most laps he has led in a race this season was eight laps at Barber. Bourdais has not led double-figure laps in a race since he led 60 laps at Phoenix last year. Spencer Pigot will be to Bourdais' outside at the start. Pigot is looking for his third consecutive top ten finish, which would be a personal best for the California-born driver. Pigot's average finish in 500-mile races is 18.6 in five career starts. His first lead lap finish in a 500-mile race occurred back in May in the Indianapolis 500 and he picked up his best finish in a 500-mile race with a 14th place result. Bourdais was seventh in practice but Pigot was 21st out of 22 cars.
Santino Ferrucci makes his Pocono debut from 13th starting position with fellow Pocono debutant Colton Herta next to Ferrucci in 14th starting position. Ferrucci has been the top rookie finisher in all three oval races this season, which include a seventh place finish in the Indianapolis 500 and a fourth place finish at Texas. Ferrucci has not had a top ten start since he started tenth at Barber in April. Ferrucci is tied with Rossi for most laps completed this season with both drivers having completed 1,517 of 1,521 laps through 13 races. Herta has had three top ten finishes in his last four starts but he has not had a top five finish since his victory at Austin in March. Herta has yet to finish an oval race in his IndyCar career after retirements for mechanical issues at Indianapolis and Iowa and an accident in Texas. Ferrucci was the top rookie in practice; third quickest overall while Herta was sixth.
Ed Carpenter makes his fourth start of 2019 and it will come from 15th on the grid. Carpenter has led only one lap in six Pocono starts. Carpenter has not had a top five finish at a track that wasn't Indianapolis Motor Speedway since he finished third at Fontana in the 2014 season finale. Marcus Ericsson makes it three Pocono debutants within four positions on the grid with the Swede starting 16th. Ericsson is coming off a 23rd place finish at Mid-Ohio, his third finish outside the top twenty this season and his sixth finish of 20th or worse. Mid-Ohio was the first time all Schmidt Peterson Motorsports finished outside the top twenty in a race since Milwaukee 2015 when Hinchcliffe finished 21st and James Jakes finished 23rd. In this year's Indianapolis 500, Oriol Servià finished 22nd as a one-off for SPM and Ericsson was classified in 23rd. Ericsson was 19th but Carpenter was the slowest car in the two-hour session, however, Carpenter was only 0.6141 seconds off the top spot.
Marco Andretti will start 17th in his home race. Andretti has finished off the lead lap in his last seven oval starts. Last year, Andretti picked up his best finish at Pocono, finishing in seventh, but one lap down. His last lead lap finish on an oval was in last year's Indianapolis 500 when he finished 12th.
Zach Veach makes it an all-Andretti Autosport row nine. Veach has only five lead lap finishes through 13 starts in 2019 with four races to go. Last year, Veach had eight lead lap finishes from 17 starts. Veach's only top ten starting position on an oval came at Pocono last year when he started seventh. Andretti was 16th in practice while Veach was 12th.
Tony Kanaan was fastest in practice with his top lap being 41.5984 seconds, 216.354 MPH but he will have to start 19th after the qualifying wash out. Kanaan has led the third most laps at Pocono since 2013 with 147 laps led. Last year was the first time Kanaan did not lead a lap at Pocono after his race ended due to a throttle issue after only 16 laps. Kanaan has not led a lap since Toronto last year. Matheus Leist joins his A.J. Foyt Racing teammate on row ten. Leist enters Pocono with his average finish of 17.1 in 30 career starts. Leist's average finish in 500-mile races is 13th and he has completed 597 of 600 laps in his three 500-mile starts. Leist has not had a lead lap finish since he completed all 200 laps at Indianapolis in May. While Kanaan was fastest, Leist was 15th in practice, 0.4017 seconds back.
The Carlin cars round out the final row of the grid with Charlie Kimball ahead of Conor Daly. Kimball is back for his fourth appearance of 2019. Kimball has completed 99% of the laps at Pocono since 2013 but he has only two lead lap finishes in six starts at the track and he has only two top ten finishes at Pocono. Conor Daly is back for his fourth race in 2019 and his third in the #59 Chevrolet for Carlin. Daly's finish has gotten slightly worse in each race this season. Daly picked up a tenth place finish in the Indianapolis 500 but he went on to finish 11th at Texas and 13th at Iowa. This is going to be Daly's fourth different team he has driven for at Pocono having previously driven for Dale Coyne Racing, A.J. Foyt Racing and Harding Racing at the 2.5-mile oval. Kimball was eighth in practice and Daly was 14th.
NBCSN's coverage of the ABC Supply 500 begins at 2:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 200 laps.
