That left Hinchcliffe as the final driver to qualify, and just over a year after a practice-session crash resulted in life-threatening injuries, “Hinch” produced a four-lap average speed of 230.760 miles per hour around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis oval to claim the pole for himself, his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team, and Honda.
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The 29-year-old Canadian broke up the all-American front row by posting a four-lap average of 230.760 miles per hour.
Newgarden will get underway from second position in the Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, with Ryan Hunter-Reay completed the front row, the latter arguably missing out on the top spot after a minor error on his final flyer.
Newgarden will start second after qualifying at 230.700, and the difference between Hinchcliffe and Newgarden was the fourth-closest between first and second in Indy’s 100-year history.
Despite being so close to the pole himself, Hunter-Reay couldn’t help but be happy for the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver.
What a story, considering when last year’s race took the green flag he was in a hospital a couple of miles away recovering from serious injuries suffered in a crash a week earlier.
Alex Tagliani, of Canada, wrecks during qualifications for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Sunday, May 22, 2016. It’s just incredible. I don’t think anybody can describe nearly losing your life out here on the same track and get back in and do 240 in the corner.
Newgarden and Hunter-Reay, the 2014 race champ and one of Hinchcliffe’s former teammates with Andretti Autosport, both congratulated the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver. “I didn’t think anything would get better than five years ago”. It is Hinchcliffe’s first “500” pole, and the ninth for Honda at the historic Brickyard.
Townsend Bell, Carlos Munoz and Will Power will start next Sunday’s race from the second row.
“It was a good first lap”, Newgarden said.
WHO’S HOT: Team Penske and Andretti Autosport.
Marco Andretti will start from 14th despite an issue which left him without fifth gear, while two-time Indy 500 victor Juan Pablo Montoya was just 17th. The mighty Team Penske got three drivers into the fast nine, but not Juan-Pablo Montoya, who won last year’s 500.
There was one crash Sunday.
Will Power was sixth and the highest-qualifying Penske driver. Wilson is driving the Driven2SaveLives vehicle as a tribute to his late brother, Justin, who was killed when debris hit him in the head in Pocono last August.
UP NEXT: Another practice session Monday, from 12:30 to 4 p.m.
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BAND OF BROTHERS: Indy rookie Stefan Wilson, of England, will start 30th.
