Saturday afternoon at World Wide Technology Raceway brought IndyCar qualifying, with single car runs the format of the day.
Each driver was tasked with turning two laps at speed, with the average of the two deciding the grid.
Drivers qualified in reverse points order, meaning that those higher up in the standings were able to wait until later in the afternoon to make their runs.
Typically the benefit comes from extra rubber in the track, giving extra grip to those at the back.
This time, clouds moved over the speedway during the course of qualifying, which lowered the sweltering temperatures a bit and helped provide an even bigger advantage.
Alex Palou, as the current points leader, took to the track last and had the biggest track condition advantage.
He took that advantage and ran, securing pole by a wide margin.
Palou completed his two laps in 51.6195 seconds at an average speed of 174.353 MPH.
The speedy Spaniard was the only driver to eclipse the 174 MPH mark and was over a full mile per hour quicker than everyone else.
This pole means that Palou now has started in the top spot in the past four consecutive races, which has not been done in IndyCar since 2011.
David Malukas was on provisional pole until that final run, securing a spot on the front row for him and Team Penske.
Kyle Kirkwood and Felix Rosenqvist were third and fourth quick respectively, filling the second row.
Early issues
Largely on account of the hot weather, cars that turned laps early were significantly slower than those at the head of the grid.
The Dale Coyne Racing duo of Romain Grosjean and Dennis Hauger went out early and completed times good enough for the 12th row.
The only driver behind was Sting Ray Robb, who set the slowest time just above 168 MPH and a full four miles per hour slower than Palou.
There were no incidents on track, but there was nearly an incident as Marcus Armstrong left pit road to hit the track.
His crew inadvertently left a box of tools on his sidepod, and he was signaled out with the equipment still there.
Luckily, Armstrong was watching closely and saw his crew wave off his acceleration less than a second after they had sent him out.
Armstrong stopped, the crew snatched the equipment, and the #66 went out on track with only a couple moments lost.
With no penalties for improper procedure, Armstrong earned the sixth grid position, just behind Scott McLaughlin.
Drivers will return to the track for a final practice session this evening, and will line up for the main event Sunday evening at 8:00 PM central time.
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