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IndyCar
The IndyCar Series championship contenders will begin their shootout within close proximity in the Firestone Indy 300. Can’t get closer than 1-2-3.
Dario Franchitti earned his fifth PEAK Performance Pole Award of the season - the third on an oval - with a four-lap average speed of 212.696 mph (1 minute, 40.5378 seconds cumulative) on the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway, and with it the crucial bonus point. IndyCar
“I was pleasantly surprised since we hadn’t run quite well in practice this morning,” Franchitti said.
Dixon qualified 0.25 seconds behind Franchitti to give Ganassi the front starting row for the second straight race.
“The car was loose to start with,” Dixon said. “That was a handful, but the car is still strong. I just went the wrong way on some adjustments.”
Briscoe enters the season-finale eight points behind Dixon.
“I don’t know if the track got slower at the end, but I think we did about what we were expecting to do,” said Briscoe, who qualified late in the session for a third-place effort. MiamiHerald.com
Those three were the only ones above 212 mph at Homestead-Miami Speedway as the series’ top two teams further distanced themselves from the pack. Vision Racing’s Ed Carpenter (211.769 mph) was fourth, followed by Newman/Haas/Lanigan’s tandem of rookie Alex Lloyd (211.702) and Graham Rahal (211.653).
IndyCar: Firestone Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway - Race Line-Up
Franchitti’s fourth pole this season was a big improvement as he finished behind Dixon and Briscoe in both practice sessions. Going second on an unseasonably hot day even for South Florida, his No. 10 Honda quickly set the tone during his four-lap split on the 1.5-mile oval.
“The first three laps were damn near perfect as far as the balance of the car,” said Franchitti, seeking his second title in three seasons. “The fourth lap between (turns) 3 and 4, I had a little slip there, but a great job by the team. This is one of the tracks that a driver can make the difference, anyway, in qualifying and I was really happy with the job today.” USA Today
“They’re on their own little plane this year,” said Danica Patrick, who’ll start seventh. “They’re much further ahead than the rest of us.”
t’s almost like there will be simultaneous events going on at Homestead-Miami Speedway; there’s the three-man race for the series championship and $1 million bonus, and the race within that race.
All 23 drivers will aim to win, of course, although 20 drivers will also enter with the mindset of not wanting to make a mistake that could cost any of the three contenders their title chance. The Associated Press
