Indy 500: A year after scary injury, James Hinchcliffe wins pole

INDIANAPOLIS -- James Hinchcliffe wanted a new story to tell, and now he will tell it.

Instead of talking about leaving Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a life-or-death situation after a suspension piece speared an artery in his left thigh, as occurred last year, Hinchcliffe won the pole Sunday for next week's Indianapolis 500.

The 29-year-old Canadian broke up the all-American front row by posting a four-lap average of 230.760 mph. Josef Newgarden finished second at 230.700 mph, the fourth-closest finish between the top qualifiers in race history.

Ryan Hunter-Reay was a close third at 230.648 mph. Townsend Bell was knocked to fourth with Hinchcliffe's run.

Hinchcliffe earned his first career IndyCar Series pole in the biggest race of his career. He had qualified second for last year's race, the same position he held in 2012.

Hinchcliffe said he was trying not to think about how big of a story this is.

"We still have a long race to get through," he said. "But I think one day I'll appreciate it a little bit more maybe than I'm letting myself today.

"It's crazy. I've said it already a hundred times just on the way over here (to the interview room). It's incredible what a different a year makes."

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports has a car on the pole for the second time since 2011, when Alex Tagliani took the honors. This time, Tagliani crashed in qualifying driving for AJ Foyt Racing. He was not injured.

"You just never know, right?" team owner Sam Schmidt said of Hinchcliffe's comeback. "You can ask and you can do all the work and you absolutely never know until you've got to mash the gas, and he did it today. He did what nobody else could do today, so I think that is a huge story.

"I would like to have a better one next weekend as well, but that would make a movie for sure."

Simon Pagenaud was another of the day's big winners. By qualifying eighth in the 33-car field, he earned 28 points, and Scott Dixon got 21 for 13th. Pagenaud now leads the series by 83 points with the Indy 500 being a double-points event.

Joining Bell on the second row of the 500 will be Carlos Munoz and Will Power. Mikhail Aleshin, Pagenaud and Helio Castroneves will occupy the third row.

Defending champion Juan Pablo Montoya will start 17th after getting a controversial second chance in qualifying. He ran over debris -- a trash bag -- that caused his car to slow on the third lap. IndyCar officials let him make another attempt.

Thirty-three car-and-driver combinations will take the green flag on May 29.