The race was originally scheduled to be run on Sunday, August 21, but heavy thunderstorms forced it to be moved to the following day.

Early in the session, defending Pocono 500 champion, Ryan Hunter-Reay crashed at the exit of turn one.

Near the end of the session, Juan Pablo Montoya's car got loose in turn two, he corrected, and impacted the wall with the right side at the exit of the corner.

Mikhail Aleshin surprised the field by securing his first pole position start with a two lap time of 1:21.6530, at an average speed of 220.6 mph (351.0 km/h); this marked Pocono as the third fastest oval on the IndyCar calendar, behind Indianapolis and Texas, respectively.

This result also marked the first time a driver from Russia started on pole in an IndyCar Series event.

Ryan Hunter-Reay did not participate in qualifying after sustaining heavy damage to his car in a practice accident earlier in the day, relegating him to a 22nd and last place start.

[4] After being postponed from its original Sunday date, the race was held on Monday, August 22, with clear but windy weather.

As the field made their way through turn three on the first green flag lap, Takuma Sato lost control of his car and hit the outside wall hard, bringing out the first caution period of the day.

Scott Dixon suffered a punctured tire from the debris from the incident, forcing him to pit and sending him to the rear of the field.

Rossi's car was launched into the air and came back down on the front nose and part of the cockpit of Hélio Castroneves who had just been released from his own pit stop.

Rossi and Castroneves were forced out of the race on the spot, while Kimball was able to continue after losing a lap for repairs.

Scott Dixon and Will Power were able to stay out on course significantly longer than anyone else, but after stops cycled through, Aleshin once again emerged the leader.

further back, Power began to slowly move his way forward, taking seventh position away from Graham Rahal.

Up front, the handling on Aleshin's car began to give way, allowing Hunter-Reay to move into the lead and begin pulling away.

Two laps later, caution flew for the third time of the race when points leader Simon Pagenaud drifted wide in turn one a hit the outside wall, bringing his day to an end and setting up a potentially huge points gain for his teammate and championship rival Power.

The lead was handed back to Power, who then began to pull away from the battling duo of Josef Newgarden and Mikhail Aleshin.

Power retained the lead of the race, while Sébastien Bourdais jumped into second after electing not to change tires during the stop.

Newgarden came across the line fourth, while Bourdais was able to hold on with his aged tires to secure a top five finish.