Juan Pablo Montoya made 17 NASCAR starts at Texas Motor Speedway, but he’s a newcomer to the speed on the 1.455-mile, high-banked Texas Motor Speedway oval in a Verizon IndyCar Series car.
Montoya was sixth fast in the lone practice session preceding single-car qualifications for the Firestone 600 (217.092 mph, 24.1482 seconds) in the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske car. Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Tony Kanaan (219.382 mph, 23.8762 seconds), Scott Dixon (218.321 mph) and 2010 pole sitter Ryan Briscoe (217.763) were atop the speed chart.
Keep track of qualifications at 2 p.m. (Central) with the IMS Radio Network broadcast complemented by real-time Timing & Scoring www.indycar.com and the INDYCAR 14 app. The race broadcast also will be on IMS Radio Network affiliates, XM 209 and Sirius 213. Paul Page is the chief announcer.
NBCSN telecasts the race live (7 p.m. local/Central on June 7) and qualifications taped at 5:30 p.m. (local/Central). Brian Till is the chief announcer, with Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy the analysts.
With two top-five finishes, Montoya is seventh in the championship standings.
“Obviously, these are the types of tracks where I have the most experience over the last seven years in NASCAR,” he said. “We tested there back in April and it went really well. I was very comfortable in the Verizon Chevrolet and we were up to speed quickly. Will (Power) and Helio (Castroneves) have both won there so we have a good pool of information to pull from.
“The speed in the Verizon car is there, no doubt, but there are so many things that go into winning a Verizon IndyCar Series race. But I feel like I can go into any race and get a win. None of us would be here if we didn’t think that way. But yes, based on our test at Texas, I think this is one of our better opportunities.”
Marco Andretti (217.575) was fourth in the No. 25 Snapple Andretti Autosport entry. Montoya’s Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves, the 2013 race winner at Texas, was fifth (217.529) in the No. 3 AAA Insurance entry.
Will Power holds the record for two-lap average speed in qualifications (219.182 mph) set in 2013.
Final Results:
| Pos. | Car | Driver | Car | Laps | Time | Gap | |
| 1 | 10 | Tony Kanaan | BRA | Target Chip Ganassi Racing | 53 | 23,876 | – |
| 2 | 9 | Scott Dixon | AUS | Target Chip Ganassi Racing | 43 | 23,992 | + 0,116 |
| 3 | 8 | Ryan Briscoe | AUS | NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing | 38 | 24,053 | + 0,177 |
| 4 | 25 | Marco Andretti | USA | Andretti Autosport | 33 | 24,079 | + 0,203 |
| 5 | 3 | Helio Castroneves | BRA | Team Penske | 55 | 24,128 | + 0,252 |
| 6 | 2 | Juan Pablo Montoya | COL | Team Penske | 42 | 24,214 | + 0,338 |
| 7 | 18 | Carlos Huertas | COL | Dale Coyne Racing | 76 | 24,235 | + 0,359 |
| 8 | 20 | Mike Conway | GBR | Ed Carpenter Racing | 49 | 24,240 | + 0,364 |
| 9 | 19 | Justin Wilson | GBR | Dale Coyne Racing | 53 | 24,258 | + 0,382 |
| 10 | 12 | Will Power | AUS | Team Penske | 53 | 24,288 | + 0,412 |
| 11 | 15 | Graham Rahal | USA | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 58 | 24,297 | + 0,421 |
| 12 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | USA | Andretti Autosport | 59 | 24,325 | + 0,449 |
| 13 | 34 | Carlos Muñoz | COL | Andretti Autosport – HVM Racing | 42 | 24,297 | + 0,421 |
| 14 | 27 | James Hinchcliffe | CAN | Andretti Autosport | 47 | 24,325 | + 0,449 |
| 15 | 98 | Jack Hawksworth | GBR | BHA / BBM with Curb-Agajanian | 54 | 24,413 | + 0,537 |
| 16 | 77 | Simon Pagenaud | FRA | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 53 | 24,456 | + 0,580 |
| 17 | 14 | Takuma Sato | JAP | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 63 | 24,467 | + 0,591 |
| 18 | 11 | Sebastien Bourdais | FRA | KVSH Racing | 40 | 24,495 | + 0,619 |
| 19 | 83 | Charlie Kimball | USA | Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing | 54 | 24,544 | + 0,668 |
| 20 | 67 | Josef Newgarden | USA | Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing | 56 | 24,573 | + 0,697 |
| 21 | 17 | Sebastien Saavedra | COL | KV AFS Racing | 50 | 24,602 | + 0,726 |
| 22 | 7 | Mikhail Aleshin | RUS | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 73 | 24,704 | + 0,828 |
Indycar.com
