Houston GP: race 2: Castroneves takes pole
 |
| Helio Castroneves |
| Phil Abbott/LAT for Chevy |
Earning the Verizon P1 Award for Race 2 of the Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston presented by the Greater Houston set up Helio Castroneves to carve into Team Penske teammate Will Power's championship lead.
Driving the No. 3 Pennzoil Ultra Premium Team Penske car, Castroneves recorded a quick lap of 59.1702 seconds in Group 2 of qualifications. Two groups were set based on June 27 combined practice times for 12 minutes of track time for each group.
"It's the right place to start and the right car to start because it carries the race sponsor," said Castroneves, who earned his second pole of the season and 40th of his career to tie Rick Mears for fourth on the all-time list.
Castroneves won Dual 2 of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit on June 1 the last time he started on the pole. He trails Power, who won Dual 1 at Belle Isle, by 31 points entering the 90-lap feature on the 1.634-mile, 10-turn temporary street circuit (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN). Power will start 18th for the second consecutive race in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car.
Mikhail Aleshin, who had qualified a season-high 10th in Race 1, significantly bettered than by leading the way in Group 1 with a lap of 1:00.2493 in the No. 7 SMP Racing car for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports to join Castroneves on Row 1.
Aleshin's teammate, Simon Pagenaud, who earned the Verizon P1 Award for Race 1, will share Row 2 with Graham Rahal, who also posted his best qualifying effort of the season.
Lineup Top-12
| P | No | Name | Time | Diff | Gap | Speed | Tire | Team |
| 1 | 3 | Helio Castroneves | 59.170 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 99.415 | A | Team Penske |
| 2 | 77 | Simon Pagenaud | 59.196 | 0.0260 | 0.0260 | 99.371 | A | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports |
| 3 | 11 | Sebastien Bourdais | 59.286 | 0.1161 | 0.0901 | 99.220 | A | KV Racing Technology |
| 4 | 27 | James Hinchcliffe | 59.513 | 0.3431 | 0.2270 | 98.842 | A | Andretti Autosport |
| 5 | 34 | Carlos Munoz | 59.665 | 0.4950 | 0.1519 | 98.590 | A | Andretti HVM Racing |
| 6 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 59.754 | 0.5841 | 0.0891 | 98.443 | A | Target Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 7 | 18 | Carlos Huertas | 59.805 | 0.6350 | 0.0509 | 98.359 | A | Dale Coyne Racing |
| 8 | 8 | Ryan Briscoe | 1:00.138 | 0.9682 | 0.3332 | 97.814 | A | Chip Ganassi Racing Teams |
| 9 | 20 | Mike Conway | 1:00.142 | 0.9721 | 0.0039 | 97.808 | A | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 10 | 83 | Charlie Kimball | 1:00.199 | 1.0287 | 0.0566 | 97.716 | A | Chip Ganassi Racing Teams |
| 11 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 1:00.224 | 1.0542 | 0.0255 | 97.675 | A | Andretti Autosport |
| 12 | 98 | Jack Hawksworth | 1:00.582 | 1.4120 | 0.3578 | 97.098 | A | Bryan Herta Autosport |
Full Lineup
1. (3) Helio Castroneves, 59.1702 (99.415)
2. (7) Mikhail Aleshin, 01:00.2493 (97.634)
3. (77) Simon Pagenaud, 59.1962 (99.371)
4. (15) Graham Rahal, 01:00.2993 (97.553)
5. (11) Sebastien Bourdais, 59.2863 (99.220)
6. (19) Justin Wilson, 01:00.3369 (97.493)
7. (27) James Hinchcliffe, 59.5133 (98.842)
8. (10) Tony Kanaan, 01:00.4841 (97.255)
9. (34) Carlos Munoz, 59.6652 (98.590)
10. (14) Takuma Sato, 01:00.5288 (97.183)
11. (9) Scott Dixon, 59.7543 (98.443)
12. (16) Luca Filippi, 01:00.7529 (96.825)
13. (18) Carlos Huertas, 59.8052 (98.359)
14. (2) Juan Pablo Montoya, 01:00.8328 (96.698)
15. (8) Ryan Briscoe, 01:00.1384 (97.814)
16. (25) Marco Andretti, 01:01.0311 (96.384)
17. (20) Mike Conway, 01:00.1423 (97.808)
18. (12) Will Power, 01:01.1423 (96.208)
19. (83) Charlie Kimball, 01:00.1989 (97.716)
20. (17) Sebastian Saavedra, 01:01.2876 (95.980)
21. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, 01:00.2244 (97.675)
22. (67) Josef Newgarden, 01:03.4769 (92.670)
23. (98) Jack Hawksworth, 01:00.5822 (97.098)