After missing one race due to injury, IZOD IndyCar Series rookie Josef Newgarden led the Hondapowered field Friday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, posting the fourth-fastest speed in qualifying for Saturday night’s season-ending MAVTV 500.

Newgarden’s qualifying run was his best of 2012, and comes after breaking a finger in a crash with Sebastien Bourdais at the GoPro Indy Grand Prix in Sonoma, California, last month. As a result of the injury, Newgarden missed the Grand Prix of Baltimore two weeks ago, but was cleared to drive his Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda Dallara earlier this week.

Scott Dixon and Alex Tagliani qualified just behind Newgarden, in fifth and sixth, respectively; while Graham Rahal qualified 11th in his Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Dallara. Saturday night’s season-ending MAVTV 500 starts at 5:30 p.m. EDT, with live television coverage on the NBC Sports Network.

Josef Newgarden (#67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda) 4th quickest in qualifying, best qualifying performance of 2012:

“We were pretty flat out [during the qualifying run], and maybe we could have trimmed out the car a little bit more. We weren’t sure about the temperature, and didn’t want to risk too much. Coming into the race, we talked a lot about how I want a car that’s going to be comfortable, reliable and consistent for the entire race. That’s what we’re working on, we want to have a good race car that can run a lot of laps. If we have that, then we can run and compete up front.”