Helio Castroneves, who was third quick on “Fast Friday” in the No. 3 Shell V-Power/Pennzoil Ultra Premium Team Penske car, backed up his case as an Indianapolis 500 pole contender by ripping off a lap of 227.555 mph (39.5181 seconds) during practice this morning.

Pole Day qualifying, which will set the first eight rows for the 500 Mile Race, runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The final 90 minutes will see the quickest nine cars from that first segment return for a shootout for the pole and $100,000 prize.

Click it: Saturday morning Practice 8 results || Combined practice results || Qualifying draw

Castroneves’ lap was the fastest of the month. He has started from the pole in the Indy 500 four times. A fifth will move him into second place -- one behind four-time Indy 500 winner and Team Penske advisor Rick Mears. The others with four poles are A.J. Foyt and Rex Mays.

Andretti Autosport's Ana Beatriz was second (226.187 mph) with Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe third (226.027) and Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Dario Franchitti fourth (225.846). Franchitti turned 39 today.

Tony Kanaan drew the first position for qualifications – four consecutive timed laps. NBC Sports Network has Pole Day coverage. Watch real-time Timing & Scoring along with streaming video of driver post-qualifying news conferences all day at www.indycar.com.

Marco Andretti was quickest on “Fast Friday” with a lap of 39.5535 seconds (227.540).

“Qualifying at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is more stressful for me than the race itself," said Ed Carpenter, driver of the No. 20 Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka car. "I get more anxiety for qualifying, especially if you have a car that can make the front row.  Or now you have a chance to make the Top Nine shootout on the first day.  There just is much at stake then. 

"Those morning practices on Pole Day when the track is much cooler than during the afternoon qualifying runs can be very intense.  If you can go out and put together four good qualifying speeds, that is one of the most rewarding times of the month."