INDIANAPOLIS -- At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, legendary status and repeated domination go hand in hand.
From Wilbur Shaw, Bobby Unser and Johnny Rutherford to A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears and Al Unser Sr., the names of the past are what drive tradition for the Indianapolis 500.
Although he may not have legendary status yet, Helio Castroneves is working on it -- especially in the area of repeated domination.
After becoming the fifth driver in race history to win back-to-back races last year, the Brazilian native continued his reign at the track Sunday afternoon by capturing the pole for the 87th running of the Indianapolis 500. He became the first driver in 13 years to capture the pole the year after winning the race.
After nine different pole sitters and a day dominated by Andretti Green Racing, Castroneves and team Penske ended up on the inside of the front row after averaging 231.725 after four laps. His quickest lap of the four clocked in at 232.215.
"Oh my God, I'm just so happy," Castroneves said. "The team has been working so hard. They deserve that.
"We brought two chassis here. We've been going back and forth all the time, and to have a result like that in the last hours is just incredible. I'm thankful for every single guy. I tell you that 232 (mph), I'm sure the guy upstairs and all the saints upstairs helped me to push the car."
Castroneves' run on Sunday was quicker than the four-lap average speed of the 2002 pole sitter, Bruno Junqueira, 231.342 mph.
The performance marked the 12th career pole for Penske. Of those 12 pole positions, five of them have resulted in victories.
If Castroneves can make it six this year, it will mark the first time a driver has won three years in a row and the first time a driver has won the first three attempts. Castroneves is the only driver to win his first two attempts at the 500-mile race after capturing the 2001 and 2002 crowns.
Castroneves did not make his run for the pole until almost 5 p.m. It was the latest time of day a driver has captured the pole since Scott Brayton in 1996.
With his run so late in the session, it was Robby Gordon who had the pole for the greater part of half the session.
Gordon was the first driver to solidly hold the pole after some shuffling by the first few cars. Gordon averaged 230.205 for his four-lap effort. Later in the afternoon, however, it was his teammate, Tony Kanan who, after borrowing Gordon's specs on his car setup, captured the pole position.
Kanan took the pole with an average four-lap time of 231.006.
By the day's end, Kanan found himself in the middle of the first row with teammate Gordon on the outside of the front row.
"It's all good," Kanan said. "(Castroneves and I) have been racing against each other for 20 years. I know he was a very high potential to be on the pole, to take me out.
"He did a great job," Kanan said of Castroneves. "I'm happy with second right now. I think we'll be a pretty good front row."
All in all, 24 drivers qualified on Sunday, leaving nine open spots for the final day of qualifying on Sunday.
On the afternoon, there were two incidents that slowed the qualification line. In his first qualification attempt for his grandfather, A.J. Foyt IV spun his car 180 degrees coming out of turn two. Eventually, after riding nearly three quarters of the way down the back stretch backwards, Foyt came to a stop without making contact.
"I was really lucky to stay out of the wall," Foyt said. "Probably, if I had spun a little earlier, I would have been in the wall."
He finished with the second to slowest time on the day picking up the 23rd position.
Not so lucky however was Scott Sharp, who, directly after Foyt's incident, hit the wall in turn two after losing control.
"I don't really know what happened," Sharp said. "The car got light and sort of snapped out. I was surprised and just couldn't believe it."
After changing motors, Sharp was able to requalify later in the day and earn a spot on the outside of row three.
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