Ryan Hunter-Reay has snatched the pole from IndyCar championship contender Scott Dixon in the final seconds of qualifying at Sonoma Raceway with Will Power seventh fastest.
Australian Power had a rare off day in qualifying as he bid for an eighth pole of the year in the final race.
It's the Team Penske driver's lowest starting position of 2018.
Hunter-Reay crossed the timing line in 1min 17.6277sec to earn his first pole of the season and deny Dixon an extra point in the series battle.
Dixon, who is vying for a fifth IndyCar title, went 1:17.7599 seconds and was atop the leader board until the very end.
Dixon has a 29-point lead over Alexander Rossi in the standings and the pole would have extended that to 30 before Sunday's race.
The event is worth double points and Rossi, a teammate of Hunter-Reay's at Andretti Autosport, starts sixth on the grid.
"I'm certainly doing my part, I just took a point away from Dixon," Hunter-Reay, who earned the seventh pole of his career and first since Long Beach in 2014, said.
Reigning champion Josef Newgarden qualified third and was followed by Marco Andretti and Patricio O'Ward, who qualified fifth for his IndyCar debut.
Dixon leads the standings on 598 points with Rossi (569) and teammates Power and Newgarden (511) the only drivers capable of winning the title.
A win in Sonoma would earn 100 points with 80 for second, 70 for third and 64 for fourth.
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