* Second of three 500-mile races in 2015
* Briscoe leads Honda 1-2 result in morning practice

A strong qualifying run for Marco Andretti Friday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, will see the Honda-powered Andretti Autosport driver start third in Saturday’s MAVTv500, the second rung of the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series “Triple Crown” of 500-mile events.

Andretti was fast throughout the first day of activity on the two-mile Auto Club Speedway oval, posting the second-fastest speed in morning practice behind fellow Honda driver Ryan Briscoe and following up with a 217.797 mph average in qualifying.

Substituting once more for the injured James Hinchcliffe, veteran Briscoe led the field in the first of two practice sessions today, but slipped to 16th in single-car qualifying. Takuma Sato will start ninth for A.J. Foyt Racing, while Carlos Munoz just missed the top 10 in qualifying and will start 11th in his Andretti Autosport Honda.

Saturday 250-lap race begins at 4 p.m. EDT with live network television coverage on the NBC Sports Network.

Marco Andretti (#27 Andretti Autosport Honda) qualified 3rd: “We’ll have a pretty clean view for the start here [after qualifying third]. I’m pretty excited about the race car; I’m thrilled with where we ended up in qualifying — but I think my race car is really solid, and thankfully we won’t have to come from the back. I’m just really proud of everybody, we’re really maximizing everything.”