» IndyCars: Power storms to Texas pole

Will Power will start Saturday night’s Firestone 600 at the Texas Motor Speedway from pole position after surviving a tough qualifying session.

Warmer than expected conditions affected the set-ups of many drivers over their two-lap dash around the 1.5-mile oval, but Power’s Penske entry seemed at ease on the banking, lapping a full 1mph faster than any other competitor.

He’ll line up alongside Josef Newgarden, who surprised himself with a front-row berth given his Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing crew hadn’t enjoyed the best of preparations heading into the Friday afternoon session, with just a single practice session beforehand.

Tony Kanaan held provisional pole position until he was usurped by both Newgarden and Power; he’ll start alongside series returnee Juan Pablo Montoya, who suffered a dramatic decline in his car’s handling on his second flying lap. Nonetheless, fourth-fastest was still a great effort from the Colombian veteran.

Indy 500 pole-winner Ed Carpenter was fifth-fastest in his second oval racing hit-out of the season. He starts ahead of Simon Pagenaud, Scott Dixon, Justin Wilson, James Hinchcliffe and Carlos Muñoz.

Several high-profile runners struggled with the deterioration in their cars’ handling, none more than defending Texas winner Hélio Castroneves. The Brazilian’s solid practice pace seemingly evaporated, and he could do no better than fourteenth in the third Penske entry.

Also struggling were Ryan Hunter-Reay and Ryan Briscoe, who line up immediately in front of Castroneves. Perhaps underscoring that his Detroit podium finish last weekend was little more than a flash in the pan, Graham Rahal qualified second slowest of all.

2014 IndyCar Series Texas Firestone 600 – Final Qualifying:

	Driver	Team / Entry	Avg. Speed
1.	Will Power	Team Penske Chevrolet	218.896mph
2.	Josef Newgarden	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda	217.835mph
3.	Tony Kanaan	Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet	217.826mph
4.	Juan Pablo Montoya	Team Penske Chevrolet	217.724mph
5.	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet	217.677mph
6.	Simon Pagenaud	Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports Honda	217.222mph
7.	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet	217.128mph
8.	Justin Wilson	Dale Coyne Racing Honda	217.007mph
9.	James Hinchcliffe	Andretti Autosport Honda	216.967mph
10.	Carlos Muñoz	Andretti Autosport Honda	216.960mph
11.	Mikhail Aleshin	Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports Honda	216.880mph
12.	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport Honda	216.823mph
13.	Ryan Briscoe	Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet	216.667mph
14.	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske Chevrolet	216.591mph
15.	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet	216.151mph
16.	Takuma Sato	A.J. Foyt Enterprises Honda	216.064mph
17.	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport Honda	215.697mph
18.	Sébastien Bourdais	KV Racing Technology Honda	214.407mph
19.	Sebastián Saavedra	KV Racing Technology / AFS Racing Honda	214.156mph
20.	Jack Hawksworth	Bryan Herta Autosport Honda	214.145mph
21.	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda	213.292mph
22.	Carlos Huertas	Dale Coyne Racing Honda	212.191mph