Dixon takes pole at Kentucky

He recorded a four-lap average of 218.968 mph around the 1.5-mile oval in the No.9 Chip Ganassi car to knock Vitor Meira out of P1, but the two will share the front row for the start of Saturday's Meijer Indy 300.

"Kentucky is a track where you can pass," said championship leader Dixon. "If you've got a good car, you can move ahead. As the race goes on, even if you have a bad pit stop and fall back, if you're fast, you can get back to the front.

"It will be more of a pack race than the ones we've had lately where we get strung out."

Meira held the top spot for much of the session, following his run of 218.409 mph in the No.4 Panther Racing car.

"The car unloaded really fast, we didn't do much to it," Meira said.

"We wanted to emphasise our qualifying effort and we capitalised on what we can do. Now it's time to go forward and think about the race."

Dan Wheldon will start third after his four-lap average of 218.332 mph. Hideki Mutoh will start fourth, followed by Penske teammates Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves on the third row and Kanaan seventh.

Following Kanaan on the grid will be Ed Carpenter, Marco Andretti and A.J. Foyt IV. Marty Roth will start a surprising 11th, while Sarah Fisher will start her first IndyCar race since the Indianapolis 500 from 16th.

"We just tried to focus on getting a good car for the race instead of qualifying," Fisher said. "Our entire team is just really happy to be back."

Danica Patrick crashed in practice Friday after a rear suspension failure and did not make a qualifying run. She'll start at the back of the pack with Bruno Junqueira, who had a mechanical issue earlier in the day.

Patrick said she wasn't sure what broke before the car veered into the wall.

"It's not ideal, but it gives the guys more time to get the backup car ready for tomorrow," Patrick said. "It's going to be a challenge getting through traffic, but I'm confident in my team."

Pos  Driver             Team                   Speed
 1.  Scott Dixon        Ganassi              218.968
 2.  Vitor Meira        Panther              218.409
 3.  Dan Wheldon        Ganassi              218.332
 4.  Hideki Mutoh       Andretti Green       217.696
 5.  Ryan Briscoe       Penske               217.665
 6.  Helio Castroneves  Penske               217.642
 7.  Tony Kanaan        Andretti Green       217.604
 8.  Ed Carpenter       Vision               217.469
 9.  Marco Andretti     Andretti Green       217.404
10.  AJ Foyt IV         Vision               217.286
11.  Marty Roth         Roth                 217.046
12.  Oriol Servia       KV                   217.015
13.  Will Power         KV                   216.729
14.  Ryan Hunter-Reay   Rahal Letterman      216.687
15.  Buddy Rice         Dreyer & Reinbold    216.609
16.  Sarah Fisher       Fisher               216.557
17.  Darren Manning     Foyt                 216.321
18.  Milka Duno         Dreyer & Reinbold    215.694
19.  Justin Wilson      Newman/Haas/Lanigan  215.459
20.  Graham Rahal       Newman/Haas/Lanigan  215.263
21.  EJ Viso            HVM                  215.065
22.  Jaime Camara       Conquest             214.099
23.  Mario Moraes       Dale Coyne           213.749
24.  Enrique Bernoldi   Conquest             213.511
25.  Bruno Junqueira    Dale Coyne              -
26.  Danica Patrick     Andretti Green          -