Birmingham, Alabama - Will Power has quite a successful record with two wins in the past four Verizon IndyCar Series races at Barber Motorsports Park.

The Team Penske driver has another shot toward stretching his championship lead in the April 27 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.

 

Power posted a quick lap of 1 minute, 8.3120 seconds in the Firestone Fast Six on the 2.38-mile, 17-turn road course to claim the Verizon P1 Award for the third time in five years, and padded his championship lead with a bonus point entering the third round of the season.

 

It was Power's 33rd career pole, breaking a tie for eighth all time with Michael Andretti. He previously started from the pole in 2010 and 2011, and won the race in 2011 and '12. In total, he's collected 168 points -- so far -- at Barber.

 

Power holds a 28-point lead over Long Beach winner Mike Conway entering the 90-lap race (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN), but Conway is only competing in the 10 road/street course left on the schedule for Ed Carpenter Racing. Simon Pagenaud, who qualified 10th in the No. 77 Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports car, is 34 points back in third in the standings.

 

Four different teams were represented in the final 10-minute session, and the six qualifiers were separated by .3138 of a second.

 

James Hinchcliffe, who watched most of last April's race from the infield following an early race incident, tied his career best of second on a road/street course (.0289 of a second behind Power) in the No. 27 United Fiber & Data car for Andretti Autosport. Teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay, who won the 2013 race from the pole, will share Row 2 with Josef Newgarden, who also tied his career-best qualifying effort (at Long Beach) in the No. 67 Hartman Oil/Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing car.

 

Scott Dixon, who has been the runner-up in all four races at Barber, qualified fifth in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car, and Helio Castroneves qualified sixth in the No. 3 AAA Insurance Team Penske car. Castroneves won the 2010 race and has finished third the past two years. They're the only drivers to compete in the Firestone Fast Six in all five years at Barber.

 

DAY 2 NOTEBOOK

 

R.C. Enerson of New Port Richey, Fla., claimed the first of two Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda races earlier today. It was the second consecutive win for the 17-year-old, who entered the weekend with the series' point lead.

 

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Spencer Pigot of Orlando, Fla., claimed the first of this weekend's Pro Mazda Championship race earlier today. It was the third consecutive win for the 20-year-old, who entered the weekend with the series' point lead.

 

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Zach Veach of Stockdale, Ohio., claimed the Legacy Indy Lights 100 sprint race earlier today. It was the second win for three starts for Veach, who entered the weekend with the series' point lead.

 

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R.C. Enerson of New Port Richey, Fla., completed a sweep of today's Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda races. It was the third consecutive win for the 17-year-old, who entered the weekend with the series' point lead.

 

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QUALIFYING FOR THE VERIZON P1 AWARD:

 

Qualifying for the Verizon P1 Award consists of three segments. In Segment One of qualifying, each group receives 10 minutes of track time. The fastest six cars from each group advance to Segment Two, while the remaining cars are assigned positions 13-26. Group One drivers will occupy the odd-numbered positions (13, 15, 17...) while Group Two drivers will occupy the even-numbered positions (14, 16, 18...) based on their fastest lap times.

 

During Segment Two, the 12 advancing cars receive 10 minutes of track time. The fastest six advance to the Firestone Fast Six Shootout while the remaining six cars are ranked in positions 7-12 based on their fastest laps.

 

During the Firestone Fast Six, the six cars receive 10 minutes of track time, with a guarantee of five minutes of green flag time. Each car receives one additional set of Firestone Firehawk tires for use during this final segment. At the end of the session, the cars are ranked 1-6 based on their fastest laps.

Any driver who causes a red flag during any of the groups will lose their two quickest laps.

 

The timeline for qualifying today is between Turns 13-14

 

At 1:45 p.m., the ambient temperature was 80 degrees with a relative humidity of 33 percent and winds from the northeast at 3 mph. Skies were sunny. The track temperature was 127 degrees, according to Firestone engineers.

 

Track record: Scott Dixon, 1:06.7750 (April 2013). Fastest lap this weekend: #27 James Hinchcliffe, 1:07.9206 (Practice 3).

 

VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES POST-PRACTICE NOTES:

 

- Will Power claimed his first pole position of 2014 and his third pole in five starts at Barber Motorsports Park. It is the 33rd pole of his Indy car career, which breaks a tie with Michael Andretti for eighth all time.

 - James Hinchcliffe qualified second, matching his season-best start of the season (Long Beach) and his best Barber start (2012).

 - Ryan Hunter-Reay qualified third, his second consecutive top-five start at Barber. He won the pole here last year.

 - Josef Newgarden qualified fourth, matching his career best qualifying performance (Long Beach 2014).

 - Scott Dixon qualified fifth and Helio Castroneves qualified sixth, They are the only two drivers to qualify Firestone Fast Six for every race here at Barber.

 

VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES:

 

WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): It's going to be a tough race. When it goes green, these temperatures are going to be very physical. There will be a lot of traffic and a lot of marbles so we'll do everything we can to get the win. I love this place. It's an awesome track. Very technical. Got to be fast. Got to be great. Definitely going to be a good race.

 

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 27 United Fiber & Data Honda): "Very happy for the United Fiber & Data boys and everybody at Andretti Autosport - all the cars have been quick; having four cars starting in the top 10, that speaks volumes for the team. Second race in a row starting from the front so we're looking forward to tomorrow. With the heat that we are going to face tomorrow and the tires going off the way they are, we figured either having one more run on that set, or a set with one less run on it was going to play into our hands tomorrow. We watched some other guys go out and we weren't sure what to expect, a bit nervous on the timing stand there but we held our second place. And hopefully with one less heat cycle on the tires we'll be in a better position tomorrow."

 

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): "Starting third is two shy of where we want to be but, it's a good start. We can go to work from there and can definitely win this thing from third. It was a tight qualifying session today - we knew it was going to be. With the level of drivers and teams we have involved, it was going to be a fight to the very end. We tried it and came up short, but overall I think third is good for the No. 28 DHL Honda."

 

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 25 Snapple Honda): "That (qualifying position) is on me, the Snapple team gave me the car - I was on a lap good enough for P3 and almost crashed in Turn 12, I don't know where it came from. I lost the back end and just saved it up to the line and we lost the time that we needed (for the Firestone Fast Six). But a credit to the team, they're looking quick."

 

SUNDAY'S SCHEDULE (all times local):

9:45-10:15 a.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series warmup
1 p.m. – Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama pre-race
2:12 p.m. – Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama (90 laps/157.4 miles), NBCSN (Live)