While Chip Ganassi Racing went 1-2 in practice, Team Penske did them one better by going 1-2-3 in qualifying, with Helio Castroneves grabbing pole from teammates Simon Pagenaud and Will Power, who he credited for helping him with the setup. "I was able to collect some information from (Power and Pagenaud) and at the end of the day we're strong, we're solid and I can't wait for the race," said Castroneves, who secured his 45th career pole in his 310th Indy car start.
Pagenaud was happy to qualify on the front as well, acknowledging the aero package is difficult to handle in traffic. "It was a good run. This morning we did a good job on the Penske Truck Rental car, understanding how it's going to work in traffic and during the race," said the Frenchman. "Quite challenging now is the rear bumper (of the car is now) filled up. It makes it very difficult in traffic. The car was great. It was an interesting run."
Fourth and fifth went to Josef Newgarden and Graham Rahal, though Newgarden detailed he may have had more speed. "The No. 67 Chevrolet has been really good. We had a tough first session there, trying to get on top of all of the changes we needed to make and everything that was going on with the car. We didn't roll off like we wanted to, but I feel bad now because we were really fast during our qualifying run. I think the car had another half-mile per hour, maybe a mile per hour, in it," said the CFH Racing driver.
Rahal, too, rebounded from a tough practice to qualify in the top five. "To get the Steak 'n Shake Honda in the top-five feels really was good," said the Mid-Ohio winner. "I definitely think the aero efficiency of the Chevy has an advantage over us here, but my guys did a great job to get us a starting spot up front, particularly engineers Mike (Talbott) and (race engineer) Eddie (Jones) who chose a good downforce level (for qualifying). We didn't shoot for it all. I told them 'Let's be conservative, let's get some good laps and we'll be alright.' To be the top Honda feels good again but we've got a big day tomorrow."
While his teammates will start up front, Juan Montoya struggled and will start 19th after lifting in turn one on his first lap. Still, he doesn't seem fazed "You can't really know what's going to happen. We've done a really good job all year, like everybody else, had ups and downs, and we'll see what it brings," said thus year's Indy 500 winner.
Qualifying was interrupted by nearly an hour for a hard crash involving Charlie Kimball, who led the morning practice. Kimball's car broke loose in the middle of turn three and spun 270 degrees to hit the outside wall nose-first. Kimball's car then briefly got airborne and caught the catchfence with the back of the car. Kimball emerged unhurt, but the will need a backup car for tomorrow's ABC Supply 500. "Went into (Turn) 1 and the car caught me out a little bit with the handling, so I made some adjustments and I don't know if it was the wind or what caught me going into (Turn) 3," Kimball explained. "Maybe I was a little aggressive, but it's qualifying. You have to go for it. I'm really disappointed for the whole Novo Nordisk team."
