Briscoe Wins Pole, Teammate Castroneves Sent To Back Of Field

JOLIET, Ill. (September 6, 2008) – It’s safe to say Brian Barnhart won’t be on Helio Castroneves’ Christmas card list. The Brazilian who is battling Scott Dixon for the IndyCar Series title will have a tougher job in the last points paying event of the year. Castroneves who last week was told by Brian Barnhart, Operations and Competition Director to pull over and let Justin Wilson by due to blocking had his qualifying time disallowed for driving below the white line on the track.”He didn’t just do it once,” IndyCar spokesman John Griffin said. “He did it numerous times.”

What was once a fourth-place qualifying run, left Castroneves in the last row, last spot in the field of 28. Meanwhile, last qualifier and Penske teammate, Ryan Briscoe ended up as quick qualifier and on the pole for Sunday’s Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil 300 IndyCar Series race at Chicagoland Speedway. Dixon who qualified in the first-third of qualifing was on the pole, until Briscoe’s four-lap average of 215.818 mph moved him to the outside of the front row. Dixon downplayed Castroneves’ qualifying technique, however did mention it early in the post-qualifying press conference, “We’re told even before we go out in qualifying just keep it above the white line,” Dixon said. “In the drivers meeting, the same thing. He was clearly below it. They never say what the penalty is for it, but it doesn’t really matter, to be honest.”

However, this is a 300-mile race, Castroneves’ race strategy most likely will have him push hard the first ten laps or so to make up as much time as he can, the goal remains the same, Castroneves needs to win or finish second to keep his hopes alive and hopes Dixon runs into trouble. All Dixon needs is to finish eighth or better.

Like in Belle Isle last week, Castroneves wasn’t going to say something he should not have. He was not available to media after a meeting in the IndyCar Series hauler. Team Penske president Tim Cindric did mention to several media members, “They (IndyCar Series) didn’t want to talk about it. We have to start from the back.”

Today’s qualifying run was Briscoe’s third pole of the season and the sixth for Team Penske. “What a way to finish up this season,” said Briscoe, who last appeared at the Illinois 1.5-mile oval in 2005. “The car was great right off the truck this weekend. It’s a great feeling to get the pole here in Chicago.”

Briscoe has come a long way from the heartbreak of wrecking on pit road with fan-favorite Danica Patrick at Indianapolis in May. The turnaround started the following week at the Milwaukee Mile were Briscoe won his first IndyCar Series race. “I was able to turn things around and get some really good, strong races off this year,” said Briscoe who also won at the road course at Mid-Ohio.

Andretti-Green Racing’s Danica Patrick will start third, “I am happy with our starting position. Sure I wish that we would’ve gotten the pole, but the Motorola car will start on the second row. Hopefully we can keep the car up front and finish the season with a solid finish.”

AGR drivers filled out the top-5 as Tony Kanaan was fourth quick, “We had much better speed this morning, so I don’t know what happened. We made a couple of changes trying to get the pole for the Team 7-Eleven guys, but we went backward a little bit. It’s a long race tomorrow and there are a lot of chances to pass here, so I’m not too worried about where we qualified.”

Marco Andretti who is hoping to end the season on a high note was fifth fastest, “The qualifying run was pretty easy. We never really worked on the qualifying car today so the run went a little bit better than we thought it would. We spent most of the practice time focusing on the race car. We still have some decisions to make overnight, and hopefully we make the right ones. It would be nice for the NYSE team to finish strong, especially after the year we’ve had. We’ve been right there but unable to capitalize, so it would be nice to win tomorrow.”

The PEAK Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy 300 will be telecast live at 3:30 p.m. EDT by ABC. The race will air live on the IMS Radio Network.

Qualifying Saturday for the PEAK Antifreeze &Motor Oil Indy 300 IndyCar Series event on the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway, with starting position, car number in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine and four-lap average speed:

1. (6) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 215.818 mph (1:41.4190 total time for four laps)

2. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 215.553

3. (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 215.548

4. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 215.368

5. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 215.064

6. (10) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 214.967

7. (12) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, 214.855

8. (4) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 214.796

9. (25) Marty Roth, Dallara-Honda, 214.794

10. (8) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 214.583

11. (27) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 214.444

12. (5) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 214.441

13. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 213.790

14. (06) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 213.523

15. (2) A.J. Foyt IV, Dallara-Honda, 213.485

16. (17) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 213.430

17. (34) Jaime Camara, Dallara-Honda, 213.417

18. (67) Sarah Fisher, Dallara-Honda, 213.389

19. (36) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 212.943

20. (23) Milka Duno, Dallara-Honda, 212.857

21. (02) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 212.753

22. (15) Buddy Rice, Dallara-Honda, 212.682

23. (14) Darren Manning, Dallara-Honda, 212.406

24. (41) Franck Perera, Dallara-Honda, 212.126

25. (18) Bruno Junqueira, Dallara-Honda, 212.040

26. (33) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Honda, 211.996

27. (19) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 211.451

28. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, No speed

Steve Zautke

Steve Zautke, a Milwaukee, WI native, was raised in the sport of auto racing. His father, Bill, was a movie photographer that shot racing footage at tracks such as the Milwaukee Mile and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the 1960’s and 1970’s Steve’s first professional job in racing was as an Emergency Medical Technician at tracks such as Angell Park and Hales Corners Speedway (1988-1991). Steve has also worked for the Milwaukee Mile as videographer, in media relations and historian (1993-2011). Steve also has worked as a reporter for Racing Information Systems (RIS) and has written features for ‘Vintage Oval Racing’ and ‘Victory Lane’ magazines. Most recently, Steve has written a book on Road America for Arcadia Publishing. ( http://www.amazon.com/Road-America-Nascar-Library-Collection/dp/1467111457 ) Steve co-hosts “Sparky’s Final Inspection” a motorsports-based radio show with hosts, Steve “Sparky” Fifer and “NASCAR Girl” Summer Santana on Sports Radio 1250AM in Milwaukee and is also available on the internet at www.Sportradio1250.com. A member of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Induction Committee, Steve follows all types of racing from the dirt tracks to Formula One.

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