Dixon Wins Peak Motor Oil Pole Award For Gainsco Auto Insurance Indy 300

HOMESTEAD, Fla., Friday, March 28, 2008 - Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon claimed the Peak Motor Oil Pole Award for the season-opening GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the first race since open-wheel racing unified in the U.S., moving forward under the IndyCar Series banner.

With an average of 213.341 mph, Dixon's pole was the first under a new qualifying format that requires drivers to put together a four-lap average speed.

Vision Racing's Ed Carpenter will join Dixon on the front row with a career-best effort (213.311 mph average) in the No. 20 Menards Dallara/Honda/Firestone. Carpenter's teammate A.J. Foyt IV, Andretti Green Racing's Danica Patrick and Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe round out the top five.

Two incidents interrupted the qualifying session. Three-time defending race winner Dan Wheldon and rookie Jay Howard both made contact during their individual qualifying attempts. Wheldon was released from the infield care center and cleared to drive while Howard had an x-ray taken of his right knee. He will be re-evaluated on Saturday prior to the race.

"What a crazy qualifying session," Dixon said. "Two big crashes, four-lap average it was pretty interesting. I think the biggest thing was when it started cooling off. There were a bunch of guys who we didn't think we would have to worry about who ended up having some big laps. Kudos to the Vision team, second and third. That's a big deal.

"We will see about tomorrow. There could be plenty of interesting things tomorrow. The last couple of years at least on my side we haven't qualified real well. Dan has always been fast here."

Track qualifying record: Sam Hornish Jr., 24.4625 seconds, 218.539 mph (March 2006). Fastest IndyCar Series lap today: #10 Dan Wheldon, 25.0037 seconds, 213.808 mph (Practice 1.)

At 6:15 p.m. the ambient temperature was 77 degrees with a relative humidity of 53 percent and winds from the east at 9 mph. Skies were sunny. The track temperature was 94 degrees, according to Firestone engineers.

Scott Dixon wins his ninth career PEAK Motor Oil Pole Award. His last pole came at Twin Ring Motegi in 2007. It his first career pole at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

This is Target Chip Ganassi Racing's 16th pole in the IndyCar Series and the team's second consecutive pole at Homestead-Miami.

Ed Carpenter qualified a career-best second. His previous best was fourth at Michigan International Speedway in 2006.

A.J. Foyt IV qualified a career-best third. His previous best was sixth at Chicagoland Speedway in 2005.

Marty Roth qualified a career-best 10th. His previous best start was 17th at Homestead-Miami in 2007 and Michigan in 2006.

Hideki Mutoh was the top-qualfying rookie at a career-best ninth. He qualified 13th in his IndyCar Series debut last September at Chicago.

Franck Perera was the highest-qualifying driver among those transitioning to the IndyCar Series. He will start 15th.

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, qualified first): "What a crazy qualifying session. Two big crashes, four-lap average it was pretty interesting. I think the biggest thing was when it started cooling off. There were a bunch of guys who we didn't think we would have to worry about who ended up having some big laps. Kudos to the Vision Team, second and third. That's a big deal.

We will see about tomorrow. There could be plenty of interesting things tomorrow. The last couple of the years at least on my side we haven't qualified real well. Dan (Wheldon) has always been fast here."

ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing, qualified second): "I wasn't quite sure I could quite go that fast. Then as the run was going on, I was thinking, 'I can't remember what Scott (Dixon) ran, but I know I'm probably in front of him.' Then the last lap, the 212.8 - I thought that may have done it. But either way, this team did such a good job this offseason. Larry Curry did a great job with some of the moves we made and the whole team from top to bottom put a lot of effort in this winter and it shows right here. Now we just have to keep up the hard work and do our job tomorrow night and the rest of the season."

"It's a heck of a way to start a season. The new qualifying format really made things interesting and I like it. The guys put in a lot of hard work this offseason and it showed in qualifying and I think it will show on race day. We have new sponsors with Menards and John Mansville and DirecTV and everybody and it's good to give them a good first night."

A.J. FOYT IV (No. 2 Vision Racing, qualified third): "If I couldn't be on the front row, then I'm glad that my teammate was the one to knock me off. I'm very happy with the run. The car has been good all day and it was good at the test. The guys made the right adjustments for qualifying. I can't wait for tomorrow." (About prospects for the race): "It could be a good day for Vision Racing. The No. 2 car or the No. 20 car could win the race. It would be nice to get Vision's first win."

DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Motorola, qualified fourth): "Considering the day that we had I think we did a great job qualifying in the Motorola car. We really struggled during practice this afternoon. We could not find the right setup all day, but my crew did a great job getting it right for tonight. As the evening goes on, the better the track conditions got. Nevertheless, I am happy with my starting position."

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske, qualified fifth): "It's really great to be back here in the IndyCar Series. We had a solid qualifying run, and I think we should be in good shape for tomorrow. I'm still getting some track time out here and trying to get back into things, but I think it's been a great start so far. With the merger, it's been exciting to come out here and have 25 cars on the grid. So far, it's been a great first race weekend with Team Penske; they're such a great group of guys to work with and it's a fantastic honor to be racing with this team. I'm looking forward to the race tomorrow and I'm definitely ready to go."

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