Dixon leads Ganassi 1-2 in qualifying

Dixon recorded a four-lap run of 1:42.3014 (213.956 mph) in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda/Dallara, just a shade faster than Wheldon's 213.641 mph run in the No. 10 Ganassi Honda/Dallara.

Dixon, who is second in the IndyCar Series standings behind Helio Castroneves, said he expects a busy race when the green flag flies shortly after 5 p.m. ET. The series is back together as one after last week's split races at Motegi and Long Beach, bringing the field up from 18 to 27.

"You expect the yellows to increase (with more cars), but that didn't happen at Homestead," Dixon said. "I expect it to be tougher for the leaders to make their way through traffic.

"The key is to be as trimmed as possible to stay in front when your clear but still have enough grip to be fast in traffic. Once you get into traffic, conditions change."

Wheldon said he needed to be more aggressive on his car's setup to challenge Dixon for the pole.

"Maybe I should have been more aggressive on the qualifying setup," Wheldon said. "I didn't have perhaps the acceleration that I could have had off the corners. It was fast, but it was just like, 'eh'."

Following the two Ganassi cars on the grid were Danica Patrick, who posted her first IndyCar victory last week at Motegi, and Tomas Scheckter, who is competing in his first race this season in preparation for his run next month at Indianapolis.

Patrick was clocked at 213.225 mph in the No. 7 Andretti Green Racing Honda/Dallara, while Scheckter went 212.762 mph in the Luczo Dragon Racing Honda/Dallara.

Patrick, the subject of an intense media tour after becoming the first woman to win a major American closed-course auto race, said her focus is off the last race.

"I'm not thinking about the win last weekend; I'm thinking about how I'm going to win this weekend," Patrick said. "How do I improve the car to make that happen. We have a fast car. We just need to make a couple of adjustments to make it more comfortable. If we can do that, we're pretty fast on our own."

Filling the third row were the Vision Racing cars driven by A.J. Foyt IV and Ed Carpenter. The surprise of qualifying was Marty Roth, who secured the seventh starting position in the No. 25 Roth Racing Honda/Dallara.

"I'm sure that's going to piss off Chip, because (Roth) hasn't spent half of what Chip has," Wheldon joked. "Why he was that quick, I have no idea, but good for him."

Helio Castroneves, Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe and Vitor Meira rounded out the top 10.

Ernesto Viso, at 17th, is the fastest of the transitioning drivers. Will Power qualified 18th, Jaime Camara 19th, and Graham Rahal 20th.

Pos  Driver             Team                   Speed
 1.  Scott Dixon        Ganassi                213.956 mph
 2.  Dan Wheldon        Ganassi                213.641 mph
 3.  Danica Patrick     Andretti Green         213.225 mph
 4.  Tomas Scheckter    Luczo Dragon           212.762 mph
 5.  A.J. Foyt IV       Vision                 212.478 mph
 6.  Ed Carpenter       Vision                 212.401 mph
 7.  Marty Roth         Roth                   212.182 mph
 8.  Helio Castroneves  Penske                 212.078 mph
 9.  Ryan Briscoe       Penske                 211.979 mph
10.  Vitor Meira        Panther                211.843 mph
11.  Tony Kanaan        Andretti Green         211.804 mph
12.  Ryan Hunter-Reay   Rahal Letterman        211.681 mph
13.  Hideki Mutoh       Andretti Green         211.346 mph
14.  Marco Andretti     Andretti Green         211.256 mph
15.  Jay Howard         Roth                   210.617 mph
16.  Darren Manning     Foyt                   210.341 mph
17.  EJ Viso            HVM                    210.112 mph
18.  Will Power         KV                     210.091 mph
19.  Jaime Camara       Conquest               209.922 mph
20.  Graham Rahal       Newman/Haas/Lanigan    209.799 mph
21.  Buddy Rice         Dreyer & Reinbold      209.766 mph
22.  Justin Wilson      Newman/Haas/Lanigan    209.405 mph
23.  Oriol Servia       KV                     209.239 mph
24.  Milka Duno         Dreyer & Reinbold      208.516 mph
25.  Enrique Bernoldi   Conquest               208.442 mph
26.  Bruno Junqueira    Dale Coyne             208.022 mph
27.  Mario Moraes       Dale Coyne             no speed