Newman/Haas/Lanigan team locks up Kansas front row

Graham Rahal

Graham Rahal waited until the end of qualifying to score pole for tomorrow's Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas giving NHLR a lock on Sunday's front row. The 20-year-old Ohio qualified at 211.311 mph. Rahal now has a pole on the series' first oval event of the season to go along with the one he captured at the season opener in St. Petersburg on a street course. "I think this one is even sweeter for the McDonald's boys," Rahal said.

"To be on pole on oval is quite an achievement, and shows how hard they've worked all winter. It's incredible for us, it really is."

Rahal's run knocked Dario Franchitti to the outside. Helio Castroneves, Robert Doornbos and Danica Patrick completed the top five. Both Dario and Helio were later sent to the back of the grid for driving below the white line.

"I think everyone's pretty surprised," Rahal said. "I didn't test at Texas but "Bobby D" did. We weren't too happy at Homestead, but again, these boys have been working so hard in the off-season. Once we go to the short ovals again, we'll be strong there, too."

Nicknamed "Bobby D" as Rahal alluded to, Doornbos is working with the original "Flying Dutchman" on ovals, as Arie Luyendyk is helping coach him starting this weekend.

"That's my secret, you just gave it away!" Doornbos joked when IMS Radio pit reporter Kevin Olson inquired about Luyendyk. "Aside of a little missed shift on the first lap, we had a good run and this format is definitely enjoyable."

Franchitti, now in the dark blue and white colors of Nicorette, held pole for the latter half of the session after bumping his teammate Scott Dixon. Castroneves went out right afterwards and fell just short of the Scotsman.

"I told my guys, let's be patient and take it easy," Castroneves said on his return to ovals. "From there on it was awesome, I was slowly trying to get back together. In the end, the car is pretty darn good!"

Dan Wheldon, the winner of the last two races at Kansas Speedway, will start ninth in his attempt to become the third driver to win three consecutive races at a track.

Series points leader Dario Franchitti will start 20th, and Helio Castroneves will start 21st. Both drivers were penalized for driving under the white line during their qualifying attempts. Castroneves was penalized for the same reason in the 2008 season finale at Chicagoland and went on to win the race after starting 28th.

Tomorrow's IndyCar race rolls off at 4:00 p.m. ET on VERSUS.

POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES:

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 02 McDonald’s Racing Team, first): “It’s a fantastic start for the McDonald’s team. First of all, for us to get a pole when we go to St. Petersburg, and then to do it again here at Kansas, I think it’s quite a shock. And obviously in memory of Paul (Newman), it’s great for us to have this success early in the season. Now of course there’s still a long way to go, but for us to get our first (oval) pole here, I hope it’s a sign of things to come."

ROBERT DOORNBOS (No. 06 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, second): “Graham has more experience on the ovals. I’ve been watching some videos, and I think last year the Ganassi boys ran one-two and pulled away helping each other. I don’t think it’s a good thing if we’re not helping each other because then I’ll be sitting in an office in Chicago (team headquarters) probably explaining myself. It’s a team effort that we’re here. They’ve worked very hard in the winter. I went out first then the engineers saw what they could do and improve and he grabbed the pole and now we’re second. So I think it’s been a great team result, and I think we need to thank the boys in the race tomorrow."

DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Motorola, third): “I thought it was hard to get up to speed, and the No. 7 car was maybe the most loose it’s ever been on an oval. It was a handful, but we ended up finding a pretty good speed and were able to put the Motorola car up front. I’m looking forward to a good race tomorrow."

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, fourth): “We need to get a good result. It’s been frustrating what we’ve had these past two races and before you know it you’ve let too many points go. We’re going to try to make the most of it. I’m going to try to stay clear of the Australian out there (Ryan Briscoe), and hopefully they’ll stop picking on me."

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 26 Team Venom Energy, fifth): “Qualifying today was not a bad showing for Team Venom Energy. As the session went on, the track got better and better, and that’s the down side of drawing an early number, but overall not a bad result. We’ll work hard tomorrow to keep the No. 26 car up front."

MARIO MORAES (No. 5 KV Racing Technology/Votorantim, sixth): “I think the KV Racing Technology–Votorantim team did a great job. This is my best IndyCar Series career qualifying position. The KVRT engineers made the right decision about changing the setup of the car. They did a great job, and the crew did an outstanding job preparing the car. Last year, I wasn’t able to qualify because my wheel nut came loose in practice and I had to start the race from the back. This year however, I am in a much better position and I look forward to the race tomorrow."

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske, seventh): “I'm not unhappy, but I definitely don't think we got the most out of the Team Penske car in qualifying today. I just couldn't keep it down in Turns 3 and 4 with the wind as strong as it was. But that's OK. We should be in good shape for tomorrow. I think we've got a really competitive race car, and hopefully we'll have a good run."

TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Team 7-Eleven, eighth): “The No. 11 car was really loose in qualifying today. I’m disappointed with were we ended up, but tomorrow will be a new day for Team 7-Eleven and we’ll see what it brings."

DAN WHELDON (No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing, ninth): “We were incredibly loose in qualifying, but that’s because we really decided to attack and have a run for the pole. The National Guard Panther Racing car will be strong for the race. Obviously there are opportunities to overtake here. We decided we were going to be aggressive, and it caught us out a bit, but that’s part of it. It wasn’t the wind really, it was just a shame that we were too loose. We haven’t had much running yet, but we’ll work on things in the morning warm-up tomorrow and make sure we’re strong for the race. It’s one of those things, and it’s certainly going to be an exciting race for fans of the IndyCar Series. I always seem to go well around here, so we’re excited about our potential."

ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing, 10th): “With just one practice before qualifying, we went pretty aggressive and overdid it a little bit for qualifying with the wind anyways. The car was really good through Turns 1 and 2 but there was too much understeer going through Turns 3 and 4. It’s too bad because I think we could easily have run in the 210 mph range with some changes. Today definitely wasn’t the day to be going out first, but that’s the luck of the draw. We missed a little on setup, so I’m not terribly happy with how qualifying went, but I’m looking forward to race day. I know we’ll make our way up to the front with the No.20 Menards car. We always have a good race car. I’m more worried about the weather (possibility of rain on race day)."

RESULTS

1. (02) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 211.311
2. (06) Robert Doornbos, Dallara-Honda, 210.665
3. (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 210.470
4. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 210.368
5. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 210.220
6. (5) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 210.197
7. (6) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 210.098
8. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 210.082
9. (4) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 209.144
10. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 208.956
11. (67) Sarah Fisher, Dallara-Honda, 208.543
12. (23) Milka Duno, Dallara-Honda, 208.537
13. (27) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 208.506
14. (14) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 208.461
15. (2) Raphael Matos, Dallara-Honda, 208.382
16. (24) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 208.145
17. (18) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 207.971
18. (13) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Honda, 206.779
19. (98) Stanton Barrett, Dallara-Honda, 205.820
20. (21) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 205.673
21. (10) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, no speed
22. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, no speed