Australia’s Will Power has grabbed the IndyCar pole position at Texas Motor Speedway for the second straight year.

The Team Penske driver averaged 352.28km/h on Friday over two laps of the 2.34km oval, where he won in 2011.

The bonus point for pole position – the 34th of his career moving him out of a tie with Dario Franchitti of sixth on IndyCar’s all-time list – increases his series points lead to 20 over teammate Helio Castroneves.

Power said he was surprised by his speed on the first lap of his qualifying run. He’d thought it was so slow that he’d have to try again.

But after Castroneves won last year’s race here in dominant style, Power was quickly turning his attention away from his qualifying performance to the race.

“I’m very focused on the race,” he said.

“Last year, Helio was very strong, so I’ll try to get a car that strong for the race if I can.”

Castroneves, who last Sunday won the second race of the weekend Indy Dual in Detroit double-header, qualified 14th-fastest for Saturday’s race.

Four different teams are represented in the top five qualifiers and seven in the top 10.

Josef Newgarden will start second for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing.

He was the only driver whose second lap was faster than his first.

The American’s previous best qualifying position on an oval was fourth at Auto Club Speedway in the 2012 season finale.

“I was happily surprised,” Newgarden said.

“We didn’t go super conservative for qualifying, but we didn’t go to the edge. The car was really fast. It’s almost like opening a gift at Christmas and getting what you want.”

Brazilian Tony Kanaan, who wrapped up his 2004 series championship at Texas Motor Speedway, and Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya will start on the second row.