INDIANAPOLIS – When you think of Team Penske, you think of prestige. Penske, is one of the most successful motorsports teams in the history of the sport. Overall, Penske has won 520 races and 34 championships across various forms of racing. Among those are a record setting 17 wins in the Indianapolis 500 to go along with 15 Indy Car championships as well.

Despite all of the honors Penske has had, winning the pole for the Indy 500 still ranks among the top on all of his achievements.

“Well, when you look at numbers, if you’re interested in numbers, we have 17 wins, 17 poles and 17 pit stop contests,” said Penske when asked about how much he holds qualifying in regard at Indy. “I guess it’s pretty important. That’s pretty good (smiling).”

Penske, is a brilliant man. He spouted that stout off without even thinking about it.

What’s strange though is, Penske hasn’t won a pole for the Indy 500 in seven years. When Ryan Briscoe won the pole in 2012, it was their third Indy pole in a four year span. They haven’t won one since.

That’s strange in the fact that they’ve won 53 poles elsewhere in that same time frame. For Sunday’s Fast Nine Shootout though, they have a good shot of ending that drought. Penske, has three bullets in their chamber. Really, it’s been three Penske’s and three Ed Carpenter Racing cars for the pole.

Simon Pagenaud is coming off of a win last weekend in the INDYCAR Grand Prix and qualified third on Saturday in his No. 22 Chevrolet. The Frenchman qualified second for this race last year and has four top nine starting spots at Indy in the last five years. He was fifth on the no tow on Fast Friday as well.

Josef Newgarden could be in the mix too. While he only has two top five starting spots at Indy including no front row starting spots, he was ninth on the no tow speed chart on Friday and qualified fourth.

The best shot though has to be Will Power. He’s won 56 career poles which ranks him second most all-time. But, none of those 56 have come on the famed 2.5-mile oval. While he’s been close recently with three front row starting spots in five years, he just hasn’t been able to earn the top spot.

Power, has 10 straight top nine starting spots for the Indy 500 and is hoping to become the first Indy 500 winner to come back the next year and win the pole. He was fourth on the no tow list on Friday afternoon and second in qualifying on Saturday.

The only driver quicker than these three on Saturday was Spencer Pigot. Can one of the Penske’s top the ECR trio?