Indy 500 Qualifying 2018: Pole Results, Starting Grid and Pre-Race Storylines

Ed Carpenter has won the pole for next Sunday's Indianapolis 500; now it's up to him to win the race.

Carpenter was the fastest of the Fast Nine who completed their qualifying for the top nine positions in the race at the end of the day. He earned the pole position for the third time in his career, as he had a four-lap average of 229.618 mph during his qualifying run Sunday.

Carpenter exceeded 230 mph during his first lap, and he maintained a speed of better than 229 mph on his three remaining laps.

"I've got to thank my team," Carpenter said, per Scott Horner of IndyStar. "I figured we could go 229 (mph) based on last night. I wasn't expecting a 230 (on his first lap)."

"Of all my pole runs, this came the easiest."

Many expected Helio Castroneves to win the pole since he was the fastest qualifier Saturday with a mark of 228.919 mph. However, he never was able to come close to the top speeds of the day, and he averaged 227.859, and that left him in the eighth spot on Sunday.

He will start in the middle of the third row, to the right of Danica Patrick and to the left of Scott Dixon.

Castroneves will attempt to win the Indianapolis 500 for the fourth time in his career, which would bring him into a tie with A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears for the most Indy 500 victories.

"In the end, it started getting real loose," Castroneves said of his car's handling when he was interviewed on ABC. "We'll be trying for No. 4, but qualifying was very tough. It's a shame we didn't get the pole position, but I prefer the win (in the race)."

Here's a look at how they will start in the May 27 race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, per IndyStar:

Indy 500 Lineup

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Row 1

• No. 20 Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet, 229.618
• No. 22 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske, Chevrolet, 228.761
• No. 12 Will Power, Team Penske, Chevrolet, 228.607

Row 2

• No. 1 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, Chevrolet, 228.405
• No. 18 Sebastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan, Honda, 228.142
• No. 21 Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet, 228.107

Row 3

• No. 13 Danica Patrick, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet, 228.090
• No. 3 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske, Chevrolet, 227.859
• No. 9 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi, Honda, 227.262

Row 4

• No. 14 Tony Kanaan, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet, 227.664
• No. 4 Matheus Leist, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet, 227.571
• No. 98 Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport, Honda, 227.288

Row 5

• No. 19 Zachary Claman De Melo, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda, 226.999
• No. 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport, Honda, 226.788
• No. 23 Charlie Kimball, Carlin, Chevrolet, 226.657

Row 6

• No. 30 Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda, 226.557
• No. 32 Kyle Kaiser, Juncos Racing, Chevrolet, 226.398
• No. 6 Robert Wickens, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda, 226.296

Row 7

• No. 33 James Davison, A.J. Foyt with Byrd-Hollinger-Belardi, Chevrolet, 226.255
• No. 59 Max Chilton, Carlin, Chevrolet, 226.212
• No. 29 Carlos Munoz, Andretti Autosport, Honda, 226.048

Row 8

• No. 88 Gabby Chaves, Harding Racing, Chevrolet, 226.007
• No. 25 Stefan Wilson, Andretti Autosport, Honda, 225.863
• No. 24 Sage Karam, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Chevrolet, 225.823

Row 9

• No. 26 Zach Veach, Andretti Autosport, Honda, 225.748
• No. 64 Oriol Servia, Scuderia Corsa with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda, 225.699
• No. 66 JR Hildebrand, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Chevrolet, 225.418

Row 10

• No. 7 Jay Howard, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports/AFS Racing, Honda, 225.388
• No. 10 Ed Jones, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda, 225.362
• No. 15 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda, 225.327

Row 11

• No. 60 Jack Harvey, Meyer Shank Racing with Schmidt Peterson, Honda, 225.254
• No. 27 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport, Honda, 224.935
• No. 17 Conor Daly, Dale Coyne dba Thom Burns Racing, Honda, 224.429

Darron Cummings/Associated Press

Patrick should be a huge story on race day. The 36-year-old driver is planning to retire, and she will close her career with this race.

By making it into the Fast Nine, she assured herself of starting in the top three rows. She will start in the first position of the third row, and that should be an excellent spot for her to make a move so she can contend in this classic race.

Patrick is the only woman to have ever led in the race, something she accomplished in 2005 and 2011, per Horner.

"I have high expectations for doing well here," Patrick said Saturday, per ESPN's news service. "But to think that I was going to come back and be in the Fast Nine right off the bat, I mean, I'm going to tell you ... I definitely am relieved."

Carpenter owns the racing team he will be driving for, and team members Spencer Pigot and Patrick joined him in the top nine spots. Carpenter, Pigot and Patrick are all driving Chevrolets.

While Carpenter earned the top spot, three Roger Penske team members took the second, third and fourth qualifying spots.

Simon Pagenaud finished slightly behind Carpenter and will start from the middle position of the front row, while Will Power was the third qualifier and will start in the outside position of the front row.

Josef Newgarden qualified fourth, and he has the inside position of the second row. Just like the Carpenter team, all three members of the Penske team are Chevrolet drivers.

Pagenaud looked like he might have the top speed after warming up at 222.795, nearly a full mile per hour better than Carpenter's warm-up. However, he had just one lap where he exceeded 229 mph, and the other three were all in the 228 mph range.

While none of the members of the A.J. Foyt team made it to the Fast Nine, Tony Kanaan and Matheus Leist will start in the two inside positions on the fourth row. Kanaan qualified with an average of 227.664 mph, while Leist averaged 227.571.

Foyt was one of the top drivers in the sport, and he was the first driver to win the classic race four times. Foyt and Mario Andretti are the only drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500.