Indianapolis, IN (My Sportsbook) - Three weeks after his acquittal of federal tax evasion charges, Helio Castroneves won the pole position for the 93rd running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 24.

Castroneves, a two-time Indy 500 winner, made his second four-lap qualifying attempt and bumped his Penske Racing teammate Ryan Briscoe from the provisional pole after recording a lap average speed of 224.864 m.p.h. with one hour and 40 minutes remaining in the six-hour session.

"This is my life, racing, and I have to thank all the fans," an emotional Castroneves said when qualifying wrapped up just after 6 p.m. (et). "Without you guys, there would be no way to do this."

The Brazilian driver went out for his initial qualifying run during the first hour and held the third spot on the grid at the time.

The pole victory was Castroneves third at Indianapolis and the 27th of his IndyCar career. He also gave team owner Roger Penske a record 15th pole at the famed track.

Briscoe attempted to knock Castroneves off the pole in the final minutes of qualifying, but settled for second again at 224.083 m.p.h. He also made his first attempt during the opening hour.

"You can't say that we didn't try, but a big congratulations to Helio," Briscoe said. "That was a big four laps, and I thought we were really going to have a shot at the pole there. On my lap coming up into the green flag, I had a really bad shift on the back straight, and it just killed all four laps."

It's the first front row for Penske in the Indy 500 since 2006 when Sam Hornish Jr. started on the pole and Castroneves rolled off second.

Dario Franchitti from Target Chip Ganassi Racing will start on the outside of the front row.

Franchitti, who returned to IndyCar after a brief stint in NASCAR and took over Dan Wheldon's seat at Ganassi, made his qualifying attempt during the second hour. His run held up for third on the grid, but windy conditions in the early going hampered his effort.

"It would have been nice to win the pole, but we have won (the Indy 500) from third in the past, so hopefully it's a good omen," Franchitti said.

Graham Rahal from Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing secured the fourth starting position, while Scott Dixon, the defending series champion, grabbed the fifth spot. The Ganassi driver started on the pole and won last year's race at Indianapolis.

Tony Kanaan will start on the outside of row two after posting the sixth-best lap average speed in his second qualifying run during the final hour. Kanaan's initial attempt was disqualified after Indy Racing League officials found his Andretti Green Racing car to be under the minimum weight during qualifying inspection.

"We got a little bit upset with the withdrawal that we got," Kanaan said. "I think they did us a favor, and I came back out and the track was better."

Mario Moraes from KV Racing Technology qualified seventh, while AGR's Marco Andretti took eighth.

Will Power, in a third entry for Penske, was nine, and Danica Patrick, also with AGR, completed the top-10.

"The car had a little bit of understeer on that run," Patrick said. "The car felt better on the first qualifying run, but then again that's natural. When you're slower, it's just stuck to the ground."

Alex Lloyd, in a third car for Ganassi, took the 11th spot after making his first attempt in the final seconds of qualifying. Lloyd bumped Hideki Mutoh from the position, in which the top-11 drivers secured the starting positions in the first day of qualifying.

Justin Wilson came out first, but his run was disqualified for an unapproved weight location. Wilson made his second attempt just before the conclusion of qualifying but was unsuccessful in making the top-11.

The wind caused havoc for many drivers during their early qualifying attempts and practice runs.

Wheldon got caught by a gust of wind in turn two as he lost control of his car and backed it into the wall. Wheldon's rear wing and left rear tire were damaged in the incident.

"I just obviously got loose," Wheldon said. "I couldn't get it down where I needed to be and that was it."

Wheldon started on the outside pole for last year's Indy 500, driving for Ganassi at the time.

Frenchman Nelson Philippe also crashed his car while the track was in practice mode. Philippe was coming out of turn one when he spun and slammed into the wall, causing damage to his nose and front end.