LEEDS, Ala. – Mike Conway and JR Hildebrand made statements in qualifications for the third Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama – look out for the one-car teams.

Conway, driving the No. 14 ABC Supply car for A.J. Foyt Racing, qualified fourth for the 90-lap race on the 2.38-mile, 17-turn Barber Motorsports Park road course. It was the first time that the No. 14 was in the Firestone Fast Six since 2007, when Darren Manning qualified fifth at St. Petersburg.

Hildebrand provided Panther Racing its best non-oval qualifying effort since Tomas Enge started in fourth position at Infineon Raceway in 2005 – the team’s last Firestone Fast Six appearance.

“Being up front makes life a little bit easier in the race because it's quite hard to pass here so qualifying is key,” said Conway, who qualified on the front row at Barber in 2010 with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. “We'll make some changes overnight, not too much, just tickle it a little bit and hopefully improve it for the race."

Added team owner A.J. Foyt: "We're moving up there where we need to be and I think competition is tougher this year than it's ever been. I'm awful proud of what (team director) Larry's (Foyt) done with the team in hiring new people and awful proud of Mike the way he's driving the car. It just seems like the team has really pulled together this year where before the team was good but there just wasn't the fire that we have now. It just seems like we have a good mixture."

For Hildebrand, the qualifying effort was his career best on a non-oval track (13th in 2011 at Mid-Ohio was his previous best) and marked the first time the 24-year-old Californian has advanced past the first round of IZOD IndyCar Series qualifications.

"I'm stoked for all the National Guard Chevy guys,” the 24-yerar-old Californian said. “Our biggest goal this offseason was to focus on improving our road and street course program and it's great to see that paying off for us. We put a high priority on that and this obviously goes a long way to show that we're making some headway.”

Six different teams are represented on the front three rows for the second race of the season.

Viso also starts strong

E.J. Viso, who will start seventh in the No. 5 CITGO | PDVSA-KV Racing Technology car, earned his best starting spot in three tries at Barber.

"It is a pretty good position to start this race. However, we had the potential to be in the top four,” said Viso, who narrowly missed out on the Firestone Fast Six.

KV Racing Technology adds sponsors

KV Racing Technology announced that PowerOne Capital Markets Limited and Delavaco Capital Inc. have joined the team as sponsors on the No. 11 GEICO | Mouser Electronics-KV Racing Technology  car driven by Tony Kanaan.

Of note

Dario Franchitti last failed to advance past the first round of qualifying at St. Petersburg in 2010. … This is the third consecutive pole at Barber for Team Penske (Helio Castroneves and Will Power). … There were eight different teams were represented in Round 2. … Oriol Servia qualified 26th, making the 10-spot penalty for an unapproved engine change moot.