Montoya takes Indianapolis pole

The Colombian was fastest in both of Friday's practice sessions and he then backed that up on his qualifying lap Saturday morning, setting the benchmark time at 49.475s, at an average speed of 182.278 mph. The Earnhardt Ganassi driver was the seventh one out to complete his run, which stood unbeaten for the rest of the session.

The former Indianapolis 500 winner achieved his first ever pole at the venue, which makes it three front-row starts in four Brickyard 400 starts for him. While speaking after his pole, he reminded reporters that the first time he drove a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car had come at Indy in 2003 while in his Fprmula 1 days, when he swapped cars with Jeff Gordon and drove around the venue's purpose-built F1 track.

"It's funny because when we did that Jeff Gordon swap here, they wanted to run the oval and I said 'there's no way in hell I'm going to drive the oval in a Cup car' and here I am on pole," said Montoya.

"It was a good lap. I think in [Turn] 2 I got a little bit tight and I had to come free a little bit getting off, but it wasn't a major deal. I don't think I made up any time but I don't think I really lost that much of a lap time there. Everywhere else was pretty good I thought. It was a good lap.

"The car is pretty good. We came here and tested and when we got off the truck the car was good. Now we just need to make sure we execute right and see what happens."

While Montoya will be hoping to make amends for last year's race, when a speeding penalty on his final stop prevented him from winning after leading from lap one, reigning champion Jimmie Johnson will start alongside him trying to make it three in a row at Indianapolis, having won the last two Brickyard events. He came closest to Montoya's time and secured an all-Chevy front row, trailing the pole sitter by 37 thousandths of a second.

Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Mark Martin was third despite a late qualifying draw, which meant a hotter track, while the second Earnhardt Ganassi Chevy of Jamie McMurray was fourth. Stewart-Haas' Ryan Newman rounded out the top five, as Greg Biffle broke into the Chevy domination by placing his Roush Fenway Ford in sixth, ahead of four-time Brickyard 400 winner Jeff Gordon.

The Richard Childress Racing Chevrolets of points leader Kevin Harvick and his team-mate Jeff Burton rounded out the top 10 ahead of the fastest Dodge of Penske's Brad Keselowski and the quickest Toyota of Michael Waltrip's Martin Truex Jr.

Indy-returnee Jacques Villeneuve claimed the final spot for the non-guaranteed drivers in his Braun Racing Toyota, and will start last in what will be his third ever Sprint Cup series start.

"It's very exciting," said the former F1 world champion and Indianapolis 500 winner. "It was very stressful because we didn't get a lot of laps. It was the first time the team has come here and it was a new car. And I hadn't been in a Cup car in over two years. It was a bit stressful. but it turned out fine."

David Gilliland, Casey Mears, David Stremme and JJ Yeley failed to make the field for Sunday's race.

Pos  Driver              Car        Speed    Time     Gap
 1.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Chevrolet  182.279  49.375s
 2.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet  182.142  49.412s  + 0.037s
 3.  Mark Martin         Chevrolet  181.803  49.504s  + 0.129s
 4.  Jamie McMurray      Chevrolet  181.748  49.519s  + 0.144s
 5.  Ryan Newman         Chevrolet  181.741  49.521s  + 0.146s
 6.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet  181.518  49.582s  + 0.207s
 7.  Greg Biffle         Ford       181.353  49.627s  + 0.252s
 8.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet  181.251  49.655s  + 0.280s
 9.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet  181.210  49.666s  + 0.291s
10.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet  181.156  49.681s  + 0.306s
11.  Brad Keselowski     Dodge      180.883  49.756s  + 0.381s
12.  Martin Truex Jr     Toyota     180.730  49.798s  + 0.423s
13.  Matt Kenseth        Ford       180.571  49.842s  + 0.467s
14.  Kurt Busch          Dodge      180.426  49.882s  + 0.507s
15.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet  180.382  49.894s  + 0.519s
16.  AJ Allmendinger     Ford       180.357  49.901s  + 0.526s
17.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet  180.260  49.928s  + 0.553s
18.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota     180.249  49.931s  + 0.556s
19.  Carl Edwards        Ford       180.220  49.939s  + 0.564s
20.  Landon Cassill      Chevrolet  180.213  49.941s  + 0.566s
21.  Robby Gordon        Toyota     180.155  49.957s  + 0.582s
22.  Regan Smith         Chevrolet  180.047  49.987s  + 0.612s
23.  Kyle Busch          Toyota     179.845  50.043s  + 0.668s
24.  Kasey Kahne         Ford       179.791  50.058s  + 0.683s
25.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dodge      179.590  50.114s  + 0.739s
26.  Paul Menard         Ford       179.497  50.140s  + 0.765s
27.  Elliott Sadler      Ford       178.962  50.290s  + 0.915s
28.  David Ragan         Ford       178.916  50.303s  + 0.928s
29.  David Reutimann     Toyota     178.891  50.310s  + 0.935s
30.  Scott Speed         Toyota     178.884  50.312s  + 0.937s
31.  Bill Elliott        Ford       178.845  50.323s  + 0.948s
32.  Reed Sorenson       Toyota     178.838  50.325s  + 0.950s
33.  Joe Nemechek        Toyota     178.834  50.326s  + 0.951s
34.  Joey Logano         Toyota     178.781  50.341s  + 0.966s
35.  Max Papis           Toyota     178.621  50.386s  + 1.011s
36.  Bobby Labonte       Chevrolet  178.377  50.455s  + 1.080s
37.  Michael McDowell    Toyota     178.341  50.465s  + 1.090s
38.  Travis Kvapil       Ford       178.013  50.558s  + 1.183s
39.  Todd Bodine         Toyota     177.890  50.593s  + 1.218s
40.  Dave Blaney         Toyota     177.578  50.682s  + 1.307s
41.  Marcos Ambrose      Toyota     175.562  51.264s  + 1.889s
42.  Kevin Conway        Ford       175.179  51.376s  + 2.001s
43.  Jacques Villeneuve  Toyota     177.466  50.714s  + 1.339s

Non-qualifiers:

     David Gilliland     Ford       176.783  50.910s  + 1.535s
     Casey Mears         Chevrolet  176.626  50.955s  + 1.580s
     David Stremme       Ford       176.236  51.068s  + 1.693s
     JJ Yeley            Dodge