Simon Pagenaud charges to lead Penske 1-2-3 in Iowa qualifying

Simon Pagenaud's wave of momentum from his win at Toronto continued as he claimed the pole for tomorrow evening's Iowa 300 and led a Team Penske 1-2-3 in qualifying.

Pagenaud was the third remaining driver to qualify iwith a benchmark two-lap average of 179.589 mph set by his teammate Will Power. The Frenchman responded in schorching temperatures exceeding 125 degrees by eclipsing the 180-mph mark at 180.073 mph to snatch the pole from Power.

The performance stands as Pagenaud's second pole in as many weeks and the fifth straight at Iowa for Team Penske

The 2016 NTT IndyCar Series was jubilant to achieve a double success as he won the pole and came out ahead of his teammates during the summer stretch of the championship.

"Team Penske, man, they keep plugging away all season long," he said. "We're really right now hitting our stride. Definitely happy to be ahead of my teammates. Josef is main competition this year. I got to grab any points I can get, be aggressive, show authority. That's what we're trying to do with the 22 car."

Power settled for second place which stands as his fifth front row start at the 7/8-mile oval. Josef Newgarden nearly knocked Power off the front row with a quicker first lap, but a slower second lap left him in third and tail end of the Penske train.

The Penske trio stood out as the only Chevrolet team up front as seven Hondas represented by four teams comprised the remainder of top ten.

Takuma Sato was the "best of the rest" and wound up in fourth place which stands has his best qualifying effort since winning the pole at Texas last month.

Leading row three is defending race winner James Hinchcliffe in fifth while Alexander Rossi will continue his championship charge from the sixth starting spot.

Graham Rahal will start seventh with Scott Dixon starting alongside him in eighth. Three-time Iowa race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay will roll from ninth place ahead of rookie Marcus Ericsson made it two Arrow SPM Hondas in the top ten.

Rookies Colton Herta and Santino Ferrucci will make their maiden IndyCar starts at the 7/8-mile oval from the sixth row while Tony Kanaan delivered the best qualifying performance of the year for AJ Foyt Racing by landing in 13th.

Just behind Tony Kanaan was a noticeably decent performance by Carlin Racing's Sage Karam, who is returning to Iowa for the first time since scoring a podium at the track in 2015.