Penske maintained its perfect qualifying record in 2017 as Hélio Castroneves claimed pole position for the second straight season at Phoenix, with the team collecting four of the leading five positions.
Castroneves set new one-and two-lap records around the oval to lead the way and take his 49th career pole – joint third in the all-time list – his average speed of 194.905mph almost one mph faster than team-mate Will Power.
"It was a great team effort, the REV Chevy was really fast," said Castroneves after his 49th career pole.
"I always say because of my team-mates, these guys are the toughest ones, everybody’s pushing each other. But I’m really glad the No. 3 prevailed this time."
Ed Carpenter Racing’s J. R. Hildebrand was the only driver to break Penske’s hegemony to take third place, as reigning champion Simon Pagenaud took fourth, with Grand Prix of Alabama victor Josef Newgarden fifth.
Tony Kanaan led Ganassi’s charge in sixth place, with Mikhail Aleshin seven, in front of defending race winner Scott Dixon.
Ninth-placed Marco Andretti was the sole Andretti Autosport representative inside the top 10 while early championship leader Sébastien Bourdais will line up from 10th place for Dale Coyne.
Bringing up the rear of the 21-car field is Ed Carpenter. The team owner/driver completed just 17 laps in practice and qualified almost two seconds adrift of Castroneves.






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