Ganassi praises team's gamble

Both Wheldon and Dixon withdrew laps that had securely qualified them within the top 11 in order to take another shot at pole position, and the gamble paid off when they secured the leading two grid spots.

Under current Indy qualifying rules, drivers have to relinquish their initial time if they wish to take a second qualifying attempt.

After the field's first runs, Dixon looked set for third, but he returned to the track with two hours to go and grabbed provisional pole. His improvement and similar gains by Penske's Ryan Briscoe edged Wheldon back from an early provisional pole to third, before he too withdrew his lap and tried again with just 21 minutes remaining.

Although he could not quite match Dixon, Wheldon managed to usurp Briscoe and complete a Ganassi one-two.

"It's easy to make calls that other people think take courage or big balls or whatever you want to call it," Ganassi said. "It's easy to make those calls when you've got great cars and great drivers and a great team behind you.

"We've been playing poker here for a lot of years. Sometimes you're holding all the aces and sometimes you're bluffing. It just so happened today that we had a good hand. We had all the aces."

Team manager Mike Hull added that Ganassi had put a lot of thought into how they could take advantage of the unique Indianapolis qualifying format.

"We had a clear plan," he said. "We knew that one attempt was not going to get it done, unlike in the past. We rehearsed this 11-person deal. We came here to be aggressive with the format. We tried last year, but didn't do a good enough job. We studied this thing."

Dixon's first four-lap run set a record for the most consistent in 500 history, wavering only 0.0049 seconds from the fastest lap to the slowest. That broke the record of 0.06 seconds set by Bobby Rahal in 1992. He then improved his speed on his second run, and felt Ganassi had plenty in hand over the competition.

"On an average lap, we had the field covered," Dixon said. "That shows how strong the team was. Even on a lap that wasn't quite right, we could still be quicker than everybody else that might go out there. For a driver to know you have the equipment to go out and do it, it's a pretty nice feeling."

The 2003 champion is still searching for his first Indy win, and had not qualified on the front row at the Speedway until this weekend. He believes the pole ranks among the finest achievements of his career.

"Among the drivers, this means a lot," Dixon said. "If you talk to the drivers out there, they'll tell you how on the limit you are (for qualifying at Indy). I don't think the general person out there realises that stuff. You're right on the limit and giving it your all. It's definitely right at the top of the list of accomplishments."