Castroneves secures Glen pole

Castroneves recorded a lap of 1:29.1919 in his final run around 3.45-mile, 11-turn road Watkins Glen International, giving him just enough to stay ahead of Scott Dixon.

After Dixon and Dario Franchitti returned to the track during the final minutes of Saturday's Fast Six session to take a shot at Castroneves' leading time, Castroneves himself returned, just in case.

"I didn't want to be stupid and go out there when nobody was even close," Castroneves said. "But then when they said Dario was going to try again, and I said, 'You know what? I'm going. I'm not even going to wait.' That was the time to go."

Castroneves didn't need the extra track time, however, as his previous best lap would have topped Dixon's last-ditch effort by 0.2 seconds.

But his final lap gave him further space from Dixon, Franchitti and Tony Kanaan, all of whom posted their fastest times on their final laps of the session.

As a result, Castroneves will start from the at Watkins Glen for the third consecutive time.

Meanwhile, Dixon, who has won the race for the past two years, will start from second.

This time, though, they duo will face pavement improvements that have made critical sections of the track - namely in Turns 1, 5 and 6 - smoother and faster.

"That's why you've seen quite a big improvement in lap times," Dixon said. "The carousel is flat now, where you had a bit of a lift before in the middle.

"Still, the bus stop is quite bumpy, and you've the toe of the boot that's quite bumpy. But a lot of those sections are what give the track character. If those areas were smooth, it wouldn't be quite as good."

Following Castroneves' No. 3 Team Penske Honda/Dallara and Dixon's No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Honda/Dallara on the grid will be Franchitti, who has won the previous two IndyCar Series races and leads the standings by 65 points over Dixon.

Franchitti's No. 27 Andretti Green Racing Honda/Dallara was clocked at 1:29.6764 on his final lap, putting him just ahead of teammate Tony Kanaan.

"Tony and I ran the same setup, and I think we got all we could out of the car," Franchitti said. "We'll have to sit down tonight and see what we can do to make the car better for tomorrow."

Sam Hornish Jr and Marco Andretti will fill the third row, followed by Buddy Rice, the first driver left out of the Fast Six format, and Vitor Meira.

Drivers first qualified in a single-car, two lap format, with the fastest six advancing to a 10-minute session in which all six cars were on the track.

For Castroneves, the pole position is his fifth of the season and 10th in the last 22 races.

"Another weekend, another good car," Castroneves said. "People don't realize this type of qualifying is like a race."

On his next-to-last lap, Dixon hit two birds on the track, apparently killing one but not damaging his car or throwing him off course.

"I thought I missed them," Dixon said. "I turned sharper to the left just to try to keep them from going directly into the car. They seemed to hit the rear of the car.

"They got sucked in as they tried to fly away. I didn't feel them, but obviously on the next lap I saw the scattering of feathers and knew that I'd collected them."

Sunday's race is scheduled to begin shortly after 3:30 pm local time, and drivers expect a different event than in previous years.

"The rhythm of the race is going to be faster," Castroneves said. "We just need to keep on our tiptoes and watch for any unexpected situations - yellows, debris, things like that. Hopefully with that, we can win from the pole."

Pos  Driver              Time
 1.  Helio Castroneves   1:29.1919
 2.  Scott Dixon         1:29.5686 + 0.377
 3.  Dario Franchitti    1:29.6764 + 0.485
 4.  Tony Kanaan         1:29.7843 + 0.592
 5.  Sam Hornish Jr      1:29.9676 + 0.776
 6.  Marco Andretti      1:30.1379 + 0.946
 7.  Buddy Rice          1:31.0733 + 1.881
 8.  Vitor Meira         1:31.1652 + 1.973
 9.  Darren Manning      1:31.7546 + 2.563
10.  Dan Wheldon         1:31.7735 + 2.582
11.  Kosuke Matsuura     1:31.9641 + 2.772
12.  Jeff Simmons        1:32.0007 + 2.809
13.  Tomas Scheckter     1:32.0506 + 2.859
14.  Scott Sharp         1:32.1406 + 2.949
15.  Danica Patrick      1:32.7457 + 3.554
16.  AJ Foyt IV          1:32.9525 + 3.761
17.  Ed Carpenter        1:34.0227 + 4.831
18.  Sarah Fisher        No Time