The man who has grabbed more poles than any other driver in IndyCar Series history hadn’t captured one in qualifying since winning “Dancing with the Stars” last fall. But Castroneves pushed Danica Patrick aside by averaging 204.519 m.p.h. over four laps in qualifying for the Firestone Indy 200 at the Nashville Superspeedway.
He did start on the pole in Japan with positions set by points.
But this pole meant much more to Castroneves, who extended a couple of records. His series record of poles is 24 for his career with at least one in seven consecutive seasons. That is a dramatic change from last week when a broken throttle cable forced him to start last at Watkins Glen.
Castroneves summed up the one-week swing as “pretty awesome.”
“I’m excited to be on pole, especially after what happened last week in Watkins Glen (did not post a qualification lap because of a mechanical issue),” said Castroneves.
“The Team Penske guys worked really hard to make sure everything was in great condition, and wow, what a great four laps. Awesome.”
Starting alongside Castroneves will be Danica Patrick who recorded a speed of 203.335 m.p.h.
“The car was stuck and it was pretty easy, which is what happens when you are starting up front,” said Patrick. “It is good to start up front here. There are plenty of spots behind me. I don’t think it’s going to be two-wide. It will be for the first couple of laps. You may see people use the outside on restart after they sweep the high lane, but it will be very hard to pass. I will need to get a good jump.”
Hideki Mutoh (203.316 m.p.h.) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (203.306 m.p.h.) will start in row two.
Other drivers of note and their starting positions: Scott Dixon (fifth), Dan Wheldon (sixth), Tony Kanaan (seventh) and Marco Andretti (11th).
“It’s great to start near the front,” Mutoh said. “If I have a good start, I should be able to stay in the front group and hopefully finish in a good position.”
“The Rahal Letterman Racing team changed some things during the practice sessions today, and to be honest, some of them didn’t make perfect sense at the time, but they sure worked once we got on the track,” said Hunter-Reay, who won the Camping World Grand Prix at Watkins Glen last week. “Hopefully, we’ll do like we did last week and keep making the car better and better.”
“I think the car was average,” Wheldon said. “But we were able to make a lot of changes from the first practice session to the second today, which definitely got us pointed in the right direction.”
“Obviously, the draw hurt us a bit going out second, but that’s the way it goes sometimes,” Dixon said. “We would have liked to have gotten the No. 9 car closer to the top of the grid, but we should be fine for the race. “
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