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Dixon Starts On Pole; Five Different Teams In Top Five

NEWTON, Iowa ? Two weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway, Scott Dixon thought he had the AAMCO Transmissions Pole Award car. Until a crash in practice on the high-banked 1.5-mile oval, his instincts likely were spot on.

So the Target Chip Ganassi Racing team rolled out the backup car, which Dixon placed seventh on the grid. The move denied fans (and the sponsor) of seeing the special blue/white Commit livery under the lights.

It’s back for the inaugural Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by ethanol, and no one will miss it. Dixon, who topped the speed chart in an abbreviated Open Test the day before, recorded a quick lap of 17.6486 seconds (182.360 mph) on the 0.894-mile ribbon of freshly-paved asphalt to claim the pole.

It’s his first pole start since last August on the Infineon Raceway road course, and the seventh of his IndyCar Series career. Helio Castroneves, the first qualifier, held the top spot (182.272; 17.6571 seconds) through 10 cars and will be on the front row for the fifth time in eight races.

“It was a very good run for us, more than I actually thought was in the car,” said Dixon, who conducted the feasibility test at the speedway in August. “It was a great effort from the team today, and a great reward for all the hard work the team had to do after the crashes we had at Texas.

“The race is going to be very tough, very physical and very tight on this short oval. Starting up front will definitely help us out. The job now is to stay out front ? all day if possible.”

With Velcro Strap. Castroneves and crew will have something to say about that. Five teams are represented in the top five.

“For 17 seconds, we were not breathing,” said Castroneves, driving the No. 3 Team Penske Dallara/Honda/Firestone. “It was a good effort and the front row is always very good. Starting out front at this place is very important because it’s going to be very busy.”

Reigning Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti (182.043) qualified third and Rahal Letterman Racing’s Scott Sharp (fourth at 1821.713) continued a strong qualifications streak. He was the pole sitter a Texas. Vision Racing’s Ed Carpenter posted his strongest qualifying run of the season (fifth at 181.644), and Rahal Letterman Racing’s Jeff Simmons tied his career high.

“When you look at the qualifying results, we are four-hundredths off of the pole speed,” said Franchitti, driving the No. 27 Canadian Club car for Andretti Green Racing. “You always think you can do better maybe with a more aggressive setup. I think we have a good race car. Conditions are going to change a lot tomorrow, but hopefully we’ve got what we need to win.”

Sharp was 18th after two practice sessions, but found what he needed from the No. 8 Patron car.

“I was pretty concerned after practice because this is a place where you can get lapped pretty quickly if you start too deep in the field,” he said. “We put a new qualifying setup on the car that we hadn’t even tried before and it was great. I just gassed it and drove it as hard as I could.”

He’ll have to match it in the race.

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