Will Power will begin his bid for a third-straight IndyCar Series win at Pocono Raceway from the pole.

The Australian turned a lap of 353.27 km/h on Saturday to take the top spot and bolster his bid for a championship with four races left in the season.

Power claimed his 53rd pole and tied AJ Foyt for second on the career list - behind only Mario Andretti's 67.

Power and Josef Newgarden made it a 1-2 start for team owner Roger Penske.

Scott Dixon leads the driver standings as he chases his sixth IndyCar championship.

The New Zealander Dixon starts from 13th and holds a 46-point lead over 2016 Indianapolis 500 champion Alexander Rossi.

Newgarden, the defending series champion, trails Dixon by 60 points in the standings and Power is 87 points back in fourth place.

"It's quite a points deficit to come back from," Indianapolis 500 champion Power said.

"But it's not impossible."

Power's run toward a second IndyCar championship - to pair with his 2014 title - shifts into another gear at Pocono, where he's won the past two races and has an average finish of fourth in the five races since the series returned to the mountains in 2013.

Power finished second in the championship from 2010 to 2012 and found each consolation prize more crushing than the last.

He knocked one goal off in 2014 with the series title and reached the second this season when he won Indy in his 11th attempt.

Power will make his 201st career start on Sunday and, at 37, has no immediate plans of calling it quits any year soon.

"I feel like I'm better than I've ever been," he said.