Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach final practice results || Starting lineup

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Josef Newgarden hasn't had the best of luck in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, but today is another day.

Newgarden, driving the No. 67 Hartman Oil CFH Racing Chevrolet, topped the time sheet in the final practice session before the 80-lap race (4 p.m. ET, NBCSN) with a lap of 1 minute, 07.8940 seconds on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn street circuit.

In 2012, Newgarden started on the front row in Long Beach in only his third Verizon IndyCar Series race but was involved in a Lap 1 incident. In 2014, he qualified fourth and was involved in an incident while leading the race. This year, he qualified sixth.

"Sixth is not as high up as we wanted to be, but we’re right in the thick of it," he said. "We’ve got a strong chance to challenge; we’ve just got keep our nose clean for once around this place and we should definitely be primed for a good result.”

Helio Castroneves set the track record in qualifications with a lap of 1:06.6294, which earned the driver of the No. 3 Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet for Team Penske the Verizon P1 Award.

The track record at the 1.968-mile configuration, which was implemented in 2000, had been held by Sebastien Bourdais at 1:06.886. That was in 2006, and he went on to win the race.

It was the 42nd career Indy car pole for Castroneves, which is fourth on the all-time list. Castroneves won at Long Beach from the pole in 2001. Team Penske teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, who won the season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., will start on the outside of Row 1.

Castroneves is nine points behind the front-running Montoya in the Verizon IndyCar Series championship standings entering the race.