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Franchitti Top IndyCar Qualifier At Richmond

Richmond, Va. ? Dario Franchitti displayed his championship form by racing to the pole position for the SunTrust Indy Challenge 300 at the Richmond International Speedway on Friday afternoon. The 2007 race winner averaged 167.315 miles per hour over four laps around the challenging .75-mile oval.

The Scot drove the Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and earned his eighth IndyCar Series pole position and the second of the season.

?I held my breath for at least three of the laps, and I was completely out of breath when I came in,? Franchitti said moments after completing his qualifying task. ?It was hard work. The car had under-steer coming off turn 2 and over-steer off turn 4, so it took some hanging on to (the car). With two laps, you could always throw one away but with four, you have to be absolutely on it. Four (laps) is tough and getting up to speed is very difficult, which is the hardest part of this new qualifying format.?

Asked what it would take to score another victory, he added, ?Just about 1,000 things have to go right for me to win this race. You have to have a fast car, the right strategy, be able to make the right moves and be good in traffic. With Richmond being such a short track, everything is compressed.?

Scott Dixon completed the Target Chip Ganassi Racing sweep of the front row with a four-lap average speed of 166.638 mph.

?I left way too much on the plate,? Dixon said of his run. ?The car was a lot better than what I gave it. We had a few problems at the end of practice, so I was easy on it to start with. Unfortunately, that?s what we got.?

Addressing the four-lap qualifying format, the champion driver stated, ?When you have a good car, it is quite nice and you can keep pushing it. When you have a bad car, you want it to be only one lap.?

Team Penske drivers Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe earned second-row starting positions with speeds of 165.931 and 165.749 mph, respectively.

The three-time Indianapolis 500 winner said, ?I love this track, and sometimes you just have to hold your breath and go for it. When you have a good car, it is a lot of fun.?

Teammate Briscoe stated, ?I wasn?t confident going into qualifying, but I had four good laps. I wasn?t happy with the car?s balance this morning, and we made a lot of big changes before qualifying. When you have to go for it, you just cross your fingers and hopefully the car will hold. And I was happy to see the (good) times pop up on the dash. But I could feel the tires going away at the end, and I lost a little bit on that last lap.?

Youthful Graham Rahal timed fifth fastest at 165.218 mph in the McDonald?s Racing Team entry. Describing his run, he said, ?We were very pleased with the pace, and for us to be as quick as we were, we are very happy with that. Now, we will focus on the race.?

Rookie Raphael Matos qualified sixth fastest in the Luczo Dragon Racing car.

Seventh and eighth fastest were E. J. Viso and Hideki Mutoh with Tomas Scheckter and Danica Patrick rounding out the top-10 qualifiers.
Notables finishing farther down the list were Dan Wheldon in 13th, Marco Andretti 16th and 2008 race winner Tony Kanaan a distant 17th at 162.634 mph.

Said Kanaan about his dismal run, ?Four laps are very hard, and it is what it is. I worked with what I had, and it didn?t work for us. We are going to have a long night tomorrow because it is so hard to pass here.?

Jaques Lazier brought up the rear in the 20th spot with a speed far off the pace at 153.176 mph.

The SunTrust Indy Challenge will be telecast live on VERSUS Saturday at 8 p.m. EDT.

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