Australia's Will Power put his Penske on pole for the IndyCar Grand Prix at Road America in Wisconsin with the help of a savvy tire choice in final qualifying. Power saved a fresh set of Firestone's faster alternate tires for the final segment of knockout qualifying and produced a lap of 1 minute, 42.2105 seconds (141.379 mph/227.53 Km/h) to secure the top qualifying position for Sunday's race at Road America. It is the 44th pole for the 35-year-old Australian, ranking fifth on the all-time Indy car list and pulling him within three of teammate Helio Castroneves for fourth place. Power used the same set of the softer alternate tires in the first two qualifying segments, allowing him to hold back a new set for the final-round battle for the pole. "If we lost pole in the Fast Six, it would look pretty bad because we had new tires," Power said. "But (Scott) Dixon was pretty quick and so was (Tony Kanaan) ... just stoked to be on pole." New Zealand's Dixon, the reigning IndyCar Series champion, qualified second for Chip Ganassi Racing with a lap of 1:42.3759 (141.150 mph) on the historic 4.014-mile permanent road course. Dixon, currently second to Team Penske's Simon Pagenaud in the point standings, equalled his best season starting position. Brazil's Kanaan, Dixon's teammate, was third with France's Pagenaud fourth for Penske. Row three of the 22-car starting grid was filled by Castroneves and Graham Rahal. Pagenaud takes an 80-point series lead into Sunday's 50-lap race. Bell wins NASCAR Truck race Christopher Bell had a few chances to get it right, and he made the most of the last of three re-starts. Bell kept the lead in a two-lap sprint for his first victory of the season in the rain-delayed NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in Madison Saturday night. The 20-year-old Bell earned the 50th victory in the series for Kyle Busch Motorsports, tied for the most with Roush Fenway Racing, and the third this season by three drivers. Ben Rhodes, the pole sitter in the 200-mile race, finished second. Bell's second career victory in 16 truck series starts was his fifth top-10 finish this year. He finished eighth and 32nd the previous two races and worked his way up from ninth Saturday. The runner-up finish was a career best for Rhodes, and Daniel Hemric was third. The final delay at Gateway Motorsports near St. Louis lasted more than 12 minutes. It had entertainment value when John Wes Townley and Spencer Gallagher grappled with wrestling-style takedowns and exchanged punches. The start was delayed about 1 1/2 hours by showers. Qualifying was canceled and practice times determined the grid. Bell didn't mind any of it. The series takes a week off before resuming in July 7 in Sparta, Kentucky. Tanner Swanson won the USAC Silver Crown preliminary 60-lap event. — Agencies
