Andretti Beats Rahal For Milwaukee Pole

WEST ALLIS, Wis., May 31, 2008 – Marco Andretti became the youngest pole winner in IndyCar Series history when he claimed the PEAK Motor Oil Pole Award for the ABC Supply/AJ Foyt 225 at The Milwaukee Mile. The 21-year-old will be joined on the front row by 19-year-old Graham Rahal. Without a doubt, this is the youngest front row in the history of major league motorsports.

Andretti, driver of the No. 26 Team Indiana Jones presented by Blockbuster Dallara/Honda/Firestone, captured his first career pole with a four-lap average speed of 168.079 mph. At the age of 21 years, 79 days old he eclipsed the mark of Tomas Scheckter, who was 21 years, 260 days old when he won the pole at Texas in June 2002.

Marco was asked about the job he did today…

“I didn’t know that was a record. I was just going for the Milwaukee pole. I think the guys did a great job. Obviously, we had our misfortune this morning coming into the pits, and the guys got the car back together. We could get some good practice time in still. We knew we had a shot.” (About the run): “The first lap, I knew the car was good, but I obviously didn’t want to take the tires out too soon. If you’re going to take them out, it’s going to be when the tires are new. I was able to do a perfect first lap that enabled me to get after it the next three laps, because at the end it was on the edge of giving up. If it had given up, that wouldn’t have been the pole. It was a consistent run.”

Andretti also joined his father in claiming his maiden pole at Milwaukee. Michael Andretti earned his first career Indy car pole at Milwaukee in 1986.

Rahal, driver of Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing’s No. 02 entry, will join Andretti on the front row. Rahal qualified with a four-lap average speed of 167.654 mph, his best starting position since joining the IndyCar Series this season. It marks the first time an Andretti and Rahal shared the front row for a race since 1992 at New Hampshire, when Rahal’s father Bobby started from the pole and Michael Andretti started in the second position.

“Obviously, I’m pretty happy with my first front row start. It would have been great to get the pole. It was so close, but unfortunately, that’s the way these go. We’ll move on from here. I think we have a great race car, and we’ll have to see how it goes tomorrow. A lot of this car came out of the Newman/Haas/Lanigan notebook for sure. A race car is a race car. They are slightly different animals maybe, but the concept is the same. All the experience these guys have had just carries on. They’ve done a great job. It was nice to have that one hour practice on Friday, because it allowed us to be more comfortable. It’s a tough track for sure, so to qualify this well is rewarding and also a great reward for all of the hard work the guys have done this year.”

2008 Indianapolis 500 winner Scott Dixon will start from the third position alongside KV Racing Technology’s Will Power. Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves qualified fifth, his ninth consecutive top-10 start, the longest active streak in the IndyCar Series. Two-time defending race winner Tony Kanaan will start sixth.

Vitor Meira crashed in turn two during the third lap of his qualifying attempt. Meira was checked and released from the infield care center but complained of a sore neck. He will be re-evaluated Sunday morning before being cleared to race. The Panther Racing crew continued to work through the night to have the car ready for the race on Sunday.

This weekend marks the 51st time that an Indy car race at The Milwaukee Mile has followed on the weekend immediately after the Indianapolis 500. Scott Dixon, who won the 92nd Indianapolis 500, will attempt to become the ninth driver to follow up on his win at Indianapolis with a victory at Milwaukee.

Since 1946, the following drivers have won at Indianapolis and gone on to win the next weekend at Milwaukee:

1956 Pat Flaherty

1964 A.J. Foyt

1971 Al Unser

1974 Johnny Rutherford

1982 Gordon Johncock

1983 Tom Sneva

1988 Rick Mears

1994 Al Unser Jr.

2000 Juan Pablo Montoya

The starting lineup for tomorrow’s ABC Supply/AJ Foyt 225:

1) Marco Andretti, Andretti Green # 26, 168.079mph
2) Graham Rahal, NHLR # 06, 167.654
3) Scott Dixon, Ganassi # 9, 167.637
4) Will Power, KVRT # 8, 167.265
5) Helio Castroneves, Team Penske # 3, 166.667
6) Tony Kanaan, Andretti Green # 11, 166.473
7) Dan Wheldon, Ganassi # 10, 166.195
8) Enrique Bernoldi, Conquest # 36, 165.216
9) Oriol Servia, KVRT # 5, 165.190
10) EJ Viso, # 33, 164.843
11) Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske # 6, 164.106
12) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Rahal Letterman # 17, 164.066
13) Danica Patrick, Andretti Green # 7, 163.702
14) Hideki Mutoh, Andretti Green # 27, 163.368
15) Bruno Junqueira, Coyne # 18, 163.123
16) John Andretti, Roth # 24, 162.449
17) Ed Carpenter, Vision # 20, 162.139
18) A.J. Foyt IV, Vision # 2, 162.049
19) Buddy Rice, Dreyer & Reinbold # 15, 161.903
20) Darren Manning, A.J. Foyt # 14, 160.787
21) Townsend Bell, Dreyer & Reinbold # 23, 160.311
22) Justin Wilson, NHLR # 02, 159.927
23) Mario Moraes, Coyne # 19, 155.511
24) Jaime Camara, Conquest # 34 154.613
25) Mario Dominguez, PCM # 96, 150.071
26) Vitor Meira, Panther # 4, No speed/no time

RacingNation Crew

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