Football
Associated Press 17y

Castroneves runs away with pole position at Milwaukee Mile

WEST ALLIS, Wis. -- If the races were as easy as qualifying
has been this season for Helio Castroneves, he'd be running away in
the IndyCar Series points.


The Brazilian, coming off a third-place finish last Sunday in
the Indianapolis 500, won his fourth pole in six tries this season
and the 20th of his career Saturday in time trials for the ABC
Supply/A.J. Foyt 225 at the Milwaukee Mile.


"I love going fast, man," the grinning Castroneves said when
asked about his qualifying prowess.


He turned a fast lap of 171.071 mph, considerably faster than
runner-up Scott Dixon's 169.266.


"That's two-tenths [of a second] faster in qualifying, but it
won't be such a big gap in the race," Castroneves said, shrugging.
"It's going to be a real competitive race."


Dixon goes into Sunday's race holding a one-point lead over
Target Chip Ganassi teammate Dan Wheldon, a three-point edge on
Indy winner Dario Franchitti and 13 on Castroneves.


"Once everybody gets out there on the track, the speeds are
going to slow down quite a bit and it's going to be very tight
racing," Dixon said. "I think everybody got a lot of work in
[Saturday] and there are going to be a lot of good cars."


Tony Kanaan, the defending race winner, will start third,
alongside Wheldon in the second row, followed by reigning IndyCar
Series champion Sam Hornish Jr., Kosuke Matsuura, Buddy Rice and Ed
Carpenter.


Franchitti, struggling through most of Saturday after what he
called "a crazy week" of media appearances following the biggest
win of his career, qualified 10th. Marco Andretti, his Andretti
Green Racing teammate, will start 14th after having a gearbox
problem when he first tried to qualify. He later was allowed one
more green-flag lap.


Danica Patrick, one of only two women in this week's race, was
10th fastest in practice but wound up 17th in qualifying. She'll
start alongside Jeff Simmons, who crashed in practice and was not
able to qualify. The Rahal Letterman Racing team planned to repair
the car and Simmons will start last in the 18-car field.

^ Back to Top ^