Pagenaud wins 2nd straight pole at Iowa
NEWTON, Iowa – Simon Pagenaud will start first in Saturday’s IndyCar race at Iowa Speedway after winning the pole for the second week in a row.
Pagenaud, who won in Toronto last weekend starting from the front row, posted an average speed of 180.073 mph to capture his third pole of 2019 and his 13th overall.
Will Power qualified second, followed by series leader Josef Newgarden and Takuma Sato.
Defending Iowa champion James Hinchcliffe was fifth and Alexander Rossi, just four points behind Newgarden, will round out the third row.
The pole winner has never won an IndyCar race at Iowa’s 0.875-mile oval in 12 tries though.
“Traffic plays a big role in this race,” Pagenaud said.
“It’s about having a good car in traffic, a good car on long runs. Most of the time it finishes under smash-and-dash at the end with a late yellow.”
Team Penske’s pole dominance
Pagenaud’s qualifying win was the fifth straight for Team Penske at Iowa and the eight in 13 tries. But the squad has only won the race once in Newton, when Helio Castroneves notched his final IndyCar victory in 2017.
“There’s very strong competition within the team. But as you can see, Team Penske is phenomenal. They give us the fastest cars,” Pagenaud said.
Keselowski wins NASCAR pole
LOUDON, N.H. – Brad Keselowski topped qualifying at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Friday for his first NASCAR Cup pole since 2017.
Keselowski turned in a fast lap of 136.384 mph in his Ford to edge Kyle Busch.
Busch was at 136.311 mph, just ahead of older brother, Kurt. Kurt Busch is coming off his first win of the season after edging younger brother Kyle last weekend at Kentucky Motor Speedway.
Keselowski has three wins in 2019.