INDYCAR: Munoz beats heat for first career pole

It's not an Indianapolis 500 win, but it is a career first for Carlos Munoz.

The driver from Colombia set a two-lap average of 217.137mph at Texas Motor Speedway for his first career Verizon IndyCar Series pole. He was the only driver on the day to run 217mph on both laps. As the fifth driver in line to qualify, he waited as several drivers put down fast first laps only to fall off on the second in sweltering conditions. Firestone Racing showed an ambient temperature of 93 degrees for qualifying and a track temperature of 132 degrees.

"Honestly, I didn't expect to be on pole," he said. "I didn't expect to be 217. After practice, I really wasn't happy with the car. Conditions was really tough. We make some changes. When I saw my first lap on my dash, I said, 'Oh, man, that was a good lap.' My second lap was really good, as well. So I was the fifth car out, it took a little bit suffering with my teammates and everything.

"I [was] really impressed with my speed. Looking for my teammates and other Hondas. Impressed with my speed. It's a long race. Really nice to have my first pole in my career. Really happy with it. So now I have to focus on tonight's practice."

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Munoz will be joined on the front row by Scott Dixon, who averaged 216.901mph.

"I'm fairly happy with the qualifying run but we just missed by a little bit," Dixon said. "The car was surprisingly good to drive. In these situations, you trim out a lot – you're on the edge and if you miss by a little bit it can be a bit of a handful. But the balance is really good. I thought the rear was sliding a little bit, which cost us a bit of speed. I moved the weight jacker a couple times and that was about it. It's nice to start at the front - I don't think it's a really big deal where you qualify as long as you're up towards the front. But it's always great to be near the pointy end of the field and congratulations to Andretti and (Carlos) Munoz for pulling off the pole."

Helio Castroneves will start third and Takuma Sato fourth after matching attempts averaging 216.740mph. Ed Carpenter Racing's Josef Newgarden will roll off fifth, marking the fifth different team in the top five qualifiers.

"We did a good lap on lap 1 and then lap 2 dropped off for some reason," Newgarden said. "No dramas from my end, we just lost some speed on the second lap."

For Sato, this is by far his best starting spot. His previous best this season was an eighth at Long Beach.

"We had a sketchy morning but the guys did a great job to put everything together and I felt pretty comfortable," Sato said. "Working with A.J., he gave a few little tips which worked extremely well on the 14 car, so we're very happy especially since this is our home track. The race will be a very different scenario because everything will cool down and we'll have more downforce and more grip available."

Munoz's pole snaps Will Power's three-race pole streak at Texas. Power will start seventh; while his 217.065mph first lap was third fastest, his second lap dropped off by 0.834 seconds. 

"Qualifying is a lot different to the race stuff," Power said. "We've gotta change a lot of stuff. [The car's] not in the window it needs to be."

Gabby Chaves, who crashed in the day's first practice, did not set a qualifying attempt. 

Several drivers expressed optimism that Saturday's race would feature several lanes. And for Mikhail Aleshin, who is quickly becoming known for his fearlessness, that presents a big opportunity. 

"I think it's a great racetrack and it's one of my favorites," said Aleshin, who will start 16th. "That's because there's not only one line, there are two lines here at least, maybe three. Maybe four if you're Russian.

The Verizon IndyCar Series will hold a second practice at 7:45 p.m. ET.