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Montoya content

Juan Pablo Montoya qualified on the pole for the Brickyard 400 and claims he has no bitterness after last year’s close call. (Associated Press)

Juan Pablo Montoya is in a familiar spot at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – out front.

A year after a late speeding penalty denied him a victory at the Brickyard, he’s hoping it sticks this time.

Montoya has steadfastly denied any lingering bitterness from last year’s near-miss, or any notion that the Brickyard owes him one. Instead, the pole-sitter for today’s race is treating this visit as an entirely new opportunity.

“It’s given me a lot, so I don’t complain,” said Montoya, who won the Indianapolis 500 for team owner Chip Ganassi in 2000.

So far this weekend, he’s had little to gripe about.

His No. 42 Chevrolet was the fastest of 13 cars at an April tire test here, and Montoya paced both of Friday’s practice sessions. Then he turned a lap at 182.278 mph on Saturday morning to take the top starting spot at the Brickyard.

Four-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson, who won his third Brickyard last season in part because of Montoya’s gaffe, qualified second with a lap at 182.142. Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin qualified third and was followed by Jamie McMurray, Montoya’s teammate, Ryan Newman and Clint Bowyer, as Chevrolets took the top six qualifying spots.

Greg Biffle was the highest-qualifying Ford at seventh.

Brad Keselowski was the best Dodge at 11th and Martin Truex Jr. led the Toyota effort at 12th.

Former Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve, like Montoya also an Indianapolis 500 winner, qualified for his first Sprint Cup race since 2007 and will start last in the 43-car field.

Four drivers failed to make the race: David Gilliland, Casey Mears – nephew of four-time Indy 500 winner Rick Mears – David Stremme and J.J. Yeley.

Nationwide

Kyle Busch held off Carl Edwards in a two-lap sprint to the finish to win the NASCAR Nationwide race at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Clermont, Ind.

Busch used a perfectly timed restart to keep a hard-charging Edwards at bay and pick up his eighth win of the season and his fifth in his last six starts.

Edwards, who was docked 60 points and fined $25,000 for taking out series points leader Brad Keselowski at the end of last week’s race in St. Louis, kept things clean this time. He used a late gamble to take on tires to roar through the field but didn’t have quite enough to track down Busch.

Aric Almirola finished third, followed by pole-sitter Trevor Bayne and Reed Sorenson. Keselowski faded late to finish eighth.

IndyCar

Will Power, going for his third consecutive win in IndyCar, will start from the pole today in the Honda Edmonton (Alberta) Indy.

Power drove the 1.96-mile City Centre Airport track in 1:00.7126 to lead the 25-car field.

Helio Castroneves, Power’s teammate with Team Penske, will start beside him on the front row while Scott Dixon of Target Chip Ganassi will be third.

Power has been the class of the field in IndyCar this season. He leads the driver standings, has won four of 10 races and has six poles.

Danica Patrick did not make it out of the first round of the three-round qualifying process and will start 21st.

Sebastian Vettel of Germany squeezed out Fernando Alonso to take pole position in his home Formula One Grand Prix at Hockenheim, Germany.

Vettel’s Red Bull was .002 seconds faster than Alonso’s Ferrari in qualifying to give the German his sixth pole of the season – and his third straight.

Felipe Massa of Brazil in the second Ferrari was third and Mark Webber of Australia was fourth in another Red Bull to complete the two front rows for today’s German Grand Prix.