ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Josef Newgarden's last-row starting spot for the Verizon IndyCar Series season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg isn't indicative of the No. 67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing's car's quickness on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street course.

Newgarden, entering his third season with the team co-owned by the former IndyCar driver, was second quick in the warm-up on race day morning.

"Not the way you want to start the year, obviously," the Tennessee native said of qualifications. "But it's very early in the game, and Sunday is where the money is paid out. We just have to be as prepared as we can for the race. We have to put our head down and get refocused."

Click it: Morning warm-up results

Carlos Munoz, who was the highest-qualifying rookie for the 110-lap race (3 p.m. ET on ABC), topped the time sheet in the 30-minute final practice with a lap of 1 minute, 2.2239 seconds in the No. 34 Cinsay Andretti TV HVM car. Sebastien Bourdais was third (1:02.3841) in the No. 11 Hydroxycut KVSH Racing car. Graham Rahal, who will occupy Row 11 with Newgarden, was fourth quick (1:02.4952).

“It was the first time I could compare blacks to reds," said Munoz, who competed on the Toronto street course last June. "We just ran the old tires we had from past days. I was working a little bit on improving my feeling. But it’s only a warm-up. I was trying to feel more secure on the track. During the race, the track will be better. We have to improve on the black tires a little bit, but no big changes for the race. I’ll do my own race and not think about P1. You have to be P1 for the last 10 laps."

The top 13 cars were separated by less than a second.

Click it: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg starting lineup

Less than 18 hours earlier, Takuma Sato earned the Verizon P1 Award with the quickest lap in the 10-minute Firestone Fast Six session in the No. 14 ABC Supply car for A.J. Foyt Racing. He was ninth in the warm-up.