Dario Franchitti will have a head start of a few feet in attempting to wrap up the IndyCar Series championship. source: indycar.com / Dave Lewandowski In six previous races at Chicagoland Speedway, that's been the difference. The points leader secured his third earned AAMCO Transmissions Pole Award of the season with a lap of 214.646 (25.4931 seconds) on the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway oval in qualifications for the PEAK Antifreeze Indy 300 presented by Mr. Clean. "First run already I knew the Canadian Club car was very fast, which is something I haven't had here at Chicago before," said Franchitti, who has finished 12th and 20th in two previous races. "And it's a big part of running up front here, just getting a good car, very good balance in the car. The speed was there as well. "We were able to tweak the car through the first and second sessions just to get a good balance, got good balance in traffic, good balance on our own. So I'm really happy to be starting this race from pole and hopefully we can keep it up front tomorrow." The Team Penske cars of Sam Hornish Jr. (214.492) and Helio Castroneves (214.380) will provide an initial buffer between Franchitti and the other title contenders, Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan. Dixon, driving the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car, will start sixth (214.217) and Kanaan (214.310) will start fourth. Dan Wheldon (214.246) will share Row 3 with his teammate. "Qualifying, all we wanted to do was start near the front," Dixon said. "We were a little ways back, which we were a little shocked by. I think the top six are so close. So it's going to be a tough race." Franchitti takes a three-point lead over Dixon and a 39-point advantage over Kanaan into the season finale. None of the contenders have won at Chicagoland Speedway, which has produced the closest 1-2 and 1-2-3 finishes in IndyCar Series history. Five of the six races have been decided by less than a second. "For you guys, it's going to be fun," Kanaan said in reference to spectators. "For us, it's going to be breathtaking. But so far so good. I think it's going to be a long day." Danica Patrick (213.813) will be on Row 4 with Darren Manning, whose eighth starting position is a season high on an oval (213.001 mph). "We've played it pretty cautious on our qualifying setup over the season and this weekend we decided to get a bit more aggressive focusing more on speed rather than finding a comfortable race setup," Manning said. "Most races we finish the weekend knowing what we should have done, this weekend we came here knowing what we had to do." Hideki Mutoh, making his IndyCar Series debut, posted a lap of 212.234 mph to qualify 13th -- ahead of Panther Racing teammates Vitor Meira (15th at 211.537) and Kosuke Matsuura (16th at 211.450).
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