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Hinchcliffe speeds to Indy 500 pole

Hinchcliffe, who was injured in Indy 500 practice last year and almost bled to death with a punctured thigh, had one order of business for himself this year.

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“A year ago (my parents) came here for a very different reason”.

Hinchcliffe congratulated by teammates after winning pole.

“We made a lot of progress overnight and it helped put our qualifying run behind us”.

Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay will start third on the outside of Row 1 after going 230.648.

Hinchcliffe’s run of almost 231 miles per hour on Saturday secured first-round qualifying honors, and meant he would be the last of five Honda drivers vying or the pole during today’s “Fast Nine” shootout.

Newgarden will start second with Ryan Hunter-Reay, the 2014 race victor, on the outside of the first row. After both Helio Castroneves and Will Power came up sort, the next-to-last qualifier, Hunter-Reay came close to toppling him, but ended his four-lap run fractionally slower, at 230.648 miles per hour. Canadas Alex Tagliani, who drives for A.J. Foyt, spun coming out of the fourth turn of his warmup lap and slammed into the attenuator at the entrance to pit road.

“I’m glad we were finally able to get the No. 10 NTT DATA Chevrolet up to speed for practice today”, said Kanaan after the session.

Defending series champion and 2015 Indy pole victor Scott Dixon needed his crew scramble to change engines in 64 minutes – a job that normally takes three hours – after the No. 9 vehicle developed a mechanical problem in practice.

Defending Indy 500 champion Juan Pablo Montoya qualified 17th and will start in the middle of row six. The Indianapolis 500 will take place on Sunday, May 29, with live coverage on ABC starting at 11 a.m. EDT. Behind them in the second row will be Townsend Bell, Carlos Munoz, and Will Power.

“It was a easy call to make [on Saturday] but then every other team in the fast nine went out and practiced”, Hinchcliffe said.

All three of team owner Sam Schmidt’s Honda-powered cars will start next Sunday’s race inside the top 10, with Mikhail Aleshin seventh and Oriol Servia 10th. Power was the best of the group and will start sixth.

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Jack Hawksworth’s auto caught fire briefly Monday during the final full practice session before Sunday’s 100th Indianapolis 500.

Hinchcliffe, Schmidt find perfect spot for 100th Indy 500