Power and Newgarden make up the front row at Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas - Will Power earned his second consecutive Verizon P1 Award for the Verizon IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway with a two-lap average speed of 218.896 mph on the 1.455-mile, high-banked oval.

Power, driving the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car, broke a tie with Dario Franchitti for sixth on the all-time list with his 34th pole.

Josef Newgarden will start second in the No. 67 Strike/Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing, recording his best qualifying effort in his third Verizon IndyCar Series season, with a two-lap average of 217.835 mph. He was the only driver to improve his speed from Lap 1 to 2 (217.446 mph to 218.225). Newgarden's previous best qualifying on an oval was fourth at Auto Club Speedway in the 2012 season finale.

Josef Newgarden

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

"I was happily surprised," said Newgarden. "We worked mainly on race stuff this morning (in the lone practice session). The name of the game is how to reduce tire degradation during the course of a run, so that's what we focused on. We didn't go super conservative for qualifying, but we didn't go to the edge. The car was really fast."

He started second in the 2012 race at Long Beach because of penalties, and his best qualifying on a road/street course is fourth at Long Beach and Barber Motorsports Park this season.

Tony Kanaan, who wrapped up his 2004 series championship at Texas Motor Speedway, and Juan Pablo Montoya will start on Row 2. Kanaan, the first of the 22 qualifiers in the No. 10 Suave for Men entry for Target Chip Ganassi Racing posted a two-lap average of 217.826 mph. Montoya had competed in 17 NASCAR races at the speedway, but is making his first Indy car start. His two-lap average of 217.724 mph in the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske car was a season high.

Indianapolis 500 pole sitter Ed Carpenter (217.677) in the No. 20 Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka car will be on Row 3 with Simon Pagenaud (217.222), driving the No. 77 Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports car.

1. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 218.896

2. (67) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 217.835

3. (10) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 217.826

4. (2) Juan Pablo Montoya, Dallara-Chevy, 217.724

5. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 217.677

6. (77) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 217.222

7. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Chevy, 217.128

8. (19) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 217.007

9. (27) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 216.967

10. (34) Carlos Munoz, Dallara-Honda, 216.960

11. (7) Mikhail Aleshin, Dallara-Honda, 216.880

12. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 216.823