Castroneves takes Nashville pole

With temperatures cooling as the session progressed, those running later in the order stood to benefit, and sure enough Castroneves - one of the last potential pole contenders to take to the track - produced a four lap average of 204.519mph.

That run was a full 1.2mph faster than the Penske driver's front row partner Danica Patrick (Andretti Green Racing), and 0.5 seconds quicker than Patrick on overall time for the four laps.

Castroneves was delighted to score his first fully-fledged pole of the year (his Motegi pole having been awarded via championship positions due to rain) just a week after he had to start last of all at Watkins Glen following a mechanical problem in qualifying.

"Awesome," Castroneves said. "Especially after what happened last week in Watkins Glen. We brought back the momentum. Tomorrow is another day, but for now we're excited to be back."

The Brazilian has not won a race since St Petersburg last year, but remains second in the championship.

Patrick briefly held provisional pole before Castroneves' run, and retained second ahead of her Andretti Green teammate Hideki Mutoh, as the Japanese rookie also made the most of the increasing cloud cover to take a career-best starting position.

Watkins Glen winner Ryan Hunter-Reay grabbed a shock fourth on the grid for Rahal Letterman Racing. Little was expected of Hunter-Reay at Nashville after he languished in the midfield in practice, but the American surged into contention in qualifying and was on course for the outside of the front row until losing ground with a slower fourth lap.

Championship leader Scott Dixon, who had dominated practice, ran early in the session and had to settle for fifth, one place ahead of his Ganassi teammate Dan Wheldon.

Behind seventh placed Tony Kanaan (AGR), Ed Carpenter claimed a promising eighth on the grid for Vision Racing on a day when his struggling teammate AJ Foyt IV could only muster enough speed for 22nd.

Ryan Briscoe (Penske) survived a slide on his first lap to take ninth, with Newman/Haas/Lanigan's Graham Rahal completing the top ten.

Marco Andretti qualified 11th for AGR then flew to Lime Rock ready to drive the team's LMP2 Acura in the first stint of Saturday afternoon's American Le Mans Series race. After handing the car over to co-driver Franck Montagny, he will hurry back to Nashville by helicopter and private jet ready for the IndyCar event.

Pos  Driver             Team                 Speed
 1.  Helio Castroneves  Penske               204.519
 2.  Danica Patrick     Andretti Green       203.335
 3.  Hideki Mutoh       Andretti Green       203.316
 4.  Ryan Hunter-Reay   Rahal Letterman      203.306
 5.  Scott Dixon        Ganassi              203.233
 6.  Dan Wheldon        Ganassi              203.077
 7.  Tony Kanaan        Andretti Green       202.818
 8.  Ed Carpenter       Vision               202.735
 9.  Ryan Briscoe       Penske               202.690
10.  Graham Rahal       Newman/Haas/Lanigan  202.561
11.  Marco Andretti     Andretti Green       202.220
12.  Buddy Rice         Dreyer & Reinbold    202.196
13.  Justin Wilson      Newman/Haas/Lanigan  201.997
14.  Will Power         KV                   201.887
15.  Vitor Meira        Panther              201.661
16.  Milka Duno         Dreyer & Reinbold    201.564
17.  Oriol Servia       KV                   201.446
18.  Darren Manning     Foyt                 201.173
19.  Enrique Bernoldi   Conquest             201.153
20.  Mario Moraes       Dale Coyne           200.026
21.  Marty Roth         Roth                 200.017
22.  AJ Foyt IV         Vision               199.841
23.  Bruno Junqueira    Dale Coyne           199.658
24.  Jaime Camara       Conquest             199.164