Franchitti Claims Peak Performance Pole For Suntrust Indy Challenge

Franchitti, who won six days earlier at Iowa Speedway, earned thePEAK Performance Pole Award presented by Advance Auto Parts at anothershort track. Driving the No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car, he recorded a four-lap average of167.315 mph on the 0.75-mile Richmond International Raceway.

Dario Franchitti is awarded the Peak Performance Pole Award presented by Advance Auto Parts Credit: Shawn Payne/IndyCar Series

In 2007, Franchitti started from the pole basedon driver points because qualifications were rained out, led 262 laps and won the SunTrust Indy Challenge. Of course, he'd appreciate a similarresult.

Scott Dixon (166.638 mph) will join his teammate on the front row - his highest start of the season. Team Penske teammates Helio Castroneves (165.931) and Ryan Briscoe (165.749) will share Row 2.

Graham Rahal (165.218) will start fifth and Raphael Matos (164.928) sixth - his best on an oval this season. E.J. Viso (164.629) also posted a season high on an oval in seventh, and will share Row 4 with Hideki Mutoh (164.575).

Mario Moraes was uninjured in the day's onlyaccident when he spun his No. 5 KV Racing Technology car off of Turn 4in the final practice.

DARIO FRANCHITTI (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, PEAK Performance Pole Award winner): "I enjoy the short tracks. We started on pole here in '07, but that was based on points. I actually had to earn it today. The Target car wasfast. Dixie (Scott Dixon) and I are both starting up front, so it's a good day for Team Target. I enjoy the technique of racing on short ovals, the way you have to set the car up. Things come at you quick here.It's a really fun discipline of our series and I really enjoy it."

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, qualified second): "After some changes in practice, for a couple of laps we were just trying to feel the car out. The car was really good andshould have been closer to pole if not on pole and I kind of let that down. We have a good car for the race and fantastic with two cars on thefront row and hopefully we can keep it that way at the end."

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske, qualified fourth): "I was really happy with myqualifying run today. We weren't too confident with the car in practice, but I was pleasantly surprised with the progress we made. I have to say, my engineers did a great job, and I think we really improved the TeamPenske car a lot between practice and qualifying. It doesn't really matter where you start here as long as you're in the top six or eight. So,I think we should be in fine shape for tomorrow. It's a big race for us, Richmond is home to our partner Philip Morris, so we always aim to dowell."

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 02 McDonald's RacingTeam, qualified fifth): "The McDonald's boys were working extremely hard today because we certainly weren't on pace earlier today. We still have a little bit too much understeer we've got to work on but we made big gains from earlier today andwe're closer to the pace of some of these guys so we've got to be pretty happy."

RAPHAEL MATOS (No. 2 US Marines Luczo Dragon Racing, qualified sixth): "I was a little too conservative onthe first lap and the modifications we made right before qualifying didn't work. Starting position is so important here and sixth is a good spot. After I got up to speed the car felt really good, it was consistent and I think we'll have a good car tomorrow. You have to have a smart strategy here. It's a long race, the conditions will be difficult at night and the car changes a lot. We're very fortunate to have our pit too, there's a lot of space on the way in and out. Hopefully that will help us tomorrow.

E.J. VISO (No. 13 PDVSA HVM Racing, qualified seventh): "I think we did a good job. This little achievement shows that testing is very important, and obviously, the development we did here a couple weeks ago is paying off right now. It's also important to qualify close to the front at this track, being one of the mostdifficult tracks to overtake in the championship and being such a criminal track last year in the race. Less than 10 cars finished, and that means that were many accidents. Obviously, you want to be as close tothe front as possible to have fewer risks in front of you."

HIDEKI MUTOH (No. 27Formula Dream, qualified eighth): "I think we have a decent car. I wish we could've started fartherup the field, but you never know how the race will unfold. The track was getting better as qualifying went on, so I really don't know where we would've qualified if we went out later. I hope to make my way through traffic tomorrow night and have a strong finish."

DANICA PATRICK (No.7 Boost Mobile/Motorola, qualified 10th): "It has been a frustrating day for the whole team.  We were really strong here last year, and we are completely off ourmarks this year. We have to put our heads together and hopefullywe can figure out what we can do between now and tomorrow. Richmond is a difficult track to pass on, so we are we need to be strong on the start, any restarts and in the pits to make up for it."

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