Canada's Hinchcliffe passes Newgarden on final run for Indy 500 pole

The draw for qualifying positions following today's practice saw 2013 Indy 500 victor Tony Kanaan earn the first spot in line in the No. 10 NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

James Hinchcliffe will be on the pole when the 100th Indianapolis 500 starts on Sunday.

"I get it. (The accident) was a big deal", Hinchcliffe said after the fourth-closest pole finish in race history, winning by 0.06 miles per hour. "Hopefully, this (the pole) is the topic of conversation for the next week". "There's a lot of quick guys out there and I think Honda is right there, too".

"We left all we had in the DHL Honda on track today - it was on rails", said Hunter-Reay.

Hinchcliffe also struggled to explain the frenzied finish on a wild qualifying weekend.

Another Andretti driver, Townsend Bell, led most of the afternoon and his 230.452 and held up until three-time 500 champion Helio Castroneves, of Brazil, went 230.500.

Newgarden will start second with Ryan Hunter-Reay, the 2014 race victor, on the outside of the first row. "It was hard waiting". "She didn't want to miss a lap, just in case I tried to kill myself again".

The nine fastest drivers from Saturday will compete in a late afternoon pole shootout, and if it resembles anything like the first day of qualifications, fans could be in for a real treat. Each auto outside the top nine will get one qualifying attempt starting at 2:45 p.m. The pole shootout begins at 5 p.m. Though his auto spun 5 1/2 times, he was quickly checked, released and cleared to drive by the infield medical centre. Four of the first five cars on the grid are Hondas, with Newgarden being the outlier racing Chevy.

For a bit, it seemed as if Newgarden would win the pole. I know we have great cars and a great crew behind us.

Defending champion Juan Pablo Montoya will start 17th after getting a controversial second chance in qualifying. Marco Andretti finished fourth in yet another close call for his famous family.

Hinchcliffe said that the Schmidt Peterson team, not yet considered one of the juggernauts, was the real victor yesterday. "It's incredible what a different a year makes".

That work starts at the top, Hinchcliffe said, lauding the leadership of Schmidt and co-owner Ric Peterson.

The Roger Penske team, which has put a record 16 cars in Victory Lane at the 500, failed to produce its dominating effort at the Brickyard with Power producing the top result.

Will Power was sixth and the highest-qualifying Penske driver. Pagenaud was eighth and Castroneves was ninth. His father, Geoff, made 10 starts at Indy, finishing fifth as a rookie in 1981.