Dixon claims pole at Iowa

Dixon recorded a lap of 17.6486 seconds in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda/Dallara to win the pole position for the first IndyCar Series race at the new track. But the question is whether anyone will be able to pass him in Sunday's race.

Drivers have discovered plenty of speed around the low line on the seven-eighths-mile oval, but little extra speed in the middle and high grooves.

"Because the corners have such a tight radius, the middle groove is so much longer to go around," Dixon said.

"With the grip these cars have, you don't get the benefit of taking the high line. That's going to be tough.

"To make big gains on the track tomorrow, it's going to have to come from great in-and-out laps, great pitstops, and having a quick, consistent car throughout the day."

Helio Castroneves had the second-best lap among the 19-car field - 182.272 mph in the No. 3 Team Penske Honda/Dallara - followed by Dario Franchitti in the No. 27 Andretti Green Racing Honda/Dallara.

Scott Sharp in the No. 8 Rahal Letterman Racing Honda/Dallara and Ed Carpenter in the No. 20 Vision Racing Honda/Dallara claimed the fourth and fifth places respectively.

Like others, Castroneves noted that drivers failed to find enough speed in the higher grooves to carry them around cars of similar speed that stay around the bottom. The concern is that the race will become a single-file - albeit fast - parade.

"Even to lap someone here is going to be hard," Castroneves said. "We're all pretty much running about the same speed, and if you move up into a higher groove, all you're doing is making each lap longer. It is going to be very hard to pass."

Jeff Simmons will start sixth, followed by Tony Kanaan, Sam Hornish Jr, Dan Wheldon and AJ Foyt IV. All drivers said they were flat around the tiny track, which is the basis for their concern that passing will be next to impossible.

"We've got to race first before we can complain about it," Kanaan said. "It is going to be difficult to pass. It's a flat-out race track

" I would say maybe we can make some adjustments for next year - either power-wise or downforce-wise - to make it a little more difficult to go around here flat."

By comparison, Iowa Speedway appears to be the fastest of the short-track genre. Three weeks ago, Castroneves won the pole at The Milwaukee Mile with a speed of 171.071 mph.

Pikes Peak, a now-defunct mile oval, saw its last pole at 175.423 mph in 2005. Richmond International Raceway, which the IndyCar Series will visit next week, was good for 176.244 mph in its last IRL qualifying session, similar to the numbers produced at another mile oval, Phoenix International Raceway, at which the IRL last raced in 2005.

The flat-out speed is what made Saturday's qualifying at Iowa - held in cool, humid, overcast conditions - so important. Just 0.1142 seconds separated the top 10, with Dixon grabbing the most coveted piece of track position.

"To be honest, if you've got a fast car and you stick it on the bottom," Dixon said, "you're going to be very tough to beat."

Pos  Driver             Speed
 1.  Scott Dixon        182.360
 2.  Helio Castroneves  182.272
 3.  Dario Franchitti   182.043
 4.  Scott Sharp        181.713
 5.  Ed Carpenter       181.644
 6.  Jeff Simmons       181.527
 7.  Tony Kanaan        181.516
 8.  Sam Hornish Jr     181.506
 9.  Dan Wheldon        181.503
10.  AJ Foyt IV         181.188
11.  Danica Patrick     180.974
12.  Marco Andretti     180.936
13.  Vitor Meira        180.878
14.  Tomas Scheckter    180.794
15.  Darren Manning     180.615
16.  Kosuke Matsuura    180.221
17.  Buddy Rice         178.787
18.  Sarah Fisher       178.632
19.  Milka Duno         175.227