Power on pole again
Will Power is starting on the pole tonight at Texas for the third year in a row, and three of his fellow Team Penske drivers are close to him. Defending IndyCar Series champion Power had a two-lap average Friday of 218.519 mph, just ahead of Team Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud at 218.441 mph. Helio Castroneves starts third, right behind Power’s Chevrolet and ahead of fellow Penske driver Indianapolis 500 champ and season points leader Juan Pablo Montoya, who qualified fifth. Andretti Autosport driver Carlos Munoz qualified third in his Honda. It is Power’s fourth pole this year. He won the Indianapolis Grand Prix. Power finished second at Texas last year, and seventh in 2013. He won at the high-banked 1 ½-mile track at Fort Worth in the second race of a 2011 doubleheader, when he started third.
Ryan Hunter-Reay crashed Friday in the first IndyCar Series practice at Texas since changes were made to keep the cars from going airborne. Hunter-Reay was OK and his car stayed on the ground. The left rear of Hunter-Reay’s No. 28 Honda hit the outside wall before the car settled on the bottom of the 1½-mile track at Fort Worth. IndyCar this week required the use of closure panels on the rear wheel guards for tonight’s race, and two other remaining superspeedway races. The change came after three Chevrolets went airborne during preparation for the Indianapolis 500. Hunter-Reay says he’s not sure what happened in Turn 2 during the team’s first race simulation run. He says the single-car accident “was a complete surprise.”
Kurt Busch turned a lap at 177.599 mph Friday and won the pole at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., in a bizarre qualifying session that saw five cars fail to complete a lap in the final round.
Denny Hamlin bobbled and lost control of the No. 11 as the qualifying clock ticked down to bring out the red flag. NASCAR scrubbed the rest of qualifying. Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Kasey Kahne all failed to record a lap time. Kurt Busch won his third pole of the season in the No. 41 Chevrolet and 19th of his career. Carl Edwards joins Kurt Busch on the front row. Martin Truex
Jr., Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick complete the top five. Kurt Busch has one victory this season with five top 10s, a nice rebound from a three-race suspension that opened the season because of his offseason legal woes.