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Kanaan wins pole for SunTrust Indy Challenge

Jun 28, 2008 - 3:06 AM RICHMOND, Virginia (Ticker) -- Tony Kanaan recorded his 10th career IndyCar Series pole Friday by taking the top spot for the SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway.

Kanaan qualified first for Saturday's race by clocking a top speed of 167.876 miles per hour in 1 minute, 04.3333 seconds.

A 33-year-old Brazilian, Kanaan claimed his second pole of the season and is in pursuit of his third win from the top spot in his Andretti Green Racing car.

"If there was a place that I could choose to start on the pole, it's this one," Kanaan said. "I think we did a great job. I have to thank my teammates, Danica (Patrick), Marco (Andretti) and Hideki (Mutoh). It helped that they all qualified in front of me.

"It helped that I was one of the last cars to qualify, too. The track was cooling off and getting better all the time. It's a good spot for what I need in the race as well. Hopefully the luck is on my side this weekend."

The pole sitter for the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg back in April, Kanaan will be joined in the front row by Andretti, who finished in a time of 1 minute, 04.3642 seconds.

"We really nailed the setup on the Blockbuster car today, especially when you consider that we didn't get proper runs in practice because we caught traffic each time," Andretti said. "Tony (Kanaan) and I both have very good race cars, so I'm excited about tomorrow."

It's the seventh time Andretti Green Racing cars have started 1-2 in an event.

Graham Rahal and series points leader Scott Dixon will start in third and fourth place respectively, while Buddy Rice and last week's Iowa Corn Indy 250 winner Dan Wheldon comprise row three. Dixon has won three races and collected five poles in 2008, giving him a 48-point lead over Helio Castroneves and 49 over Wheldon.

"To be honest, it was a disappointing qualifying performance on my behalf," Wheldon said. "I somewhat struggled with the car in the first and second practice, and we didn't improve much in qualifying. I just left too much on the table which was disappointing."

Rookie Mutoh starts in seventh position while Indy Japan 300 winner Patrick will begin in 14th place.

"Right before we went out, we made a small change on the car, and I think we shouldn't have made the change," Mutoh said. "It would've been nice if we could start from a better position, but seventh is not bad, so it's OK."

Last year's IRL champion Dario Franchitti, who won the pole and race here last season, will not participate as he is now a rookie on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series circuit.