Dixon takes pole for Texas race

Dixon's four laps were just 0.05 seconds faster than Penske driver Helio Castroneves' effort of 214.777mph on a hot, windy day.

Ganassi driver Dixon, whose car was fast in the first practice session on Thursday night but lost that speed during pre-qualifying practice on Friday afternoon, said he recovered it for his four-lap qualifying run.

"Today we were struggling," Dixon said. "Yesterday we were fast out of the box, but today we lost that. I didn't think the car was capable of running a speed like that, and I didn't think it was good enough to stay there. That's a credit to the guys for getting the car back on top."

Following Dixon and Castroneves on the front row was Castroneves' teammate, Ryan Briscoe, who topped Andretti Green Racing rookie Hideki Mutoh.

Danica Patrick (AGR) and Tomas Scheckter (Luczo Dragon) will fill the third row, followed by the impressive John Andretti (Roth) and Will Power (KV).

Most drivers struggled again with windy conditions, as they did on Thursday night in practice. Gusts were estimated in the region of 30 mph, not as bad as Thursday's estimates of nearly 45 mph.

"The wind ultimately slows the cars down, no matter which way it comes from," Dixon said. "Your average is not as good. As far as moving the cars around, it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be."

Both Dixon and Castroneves criticised the four-lap qualifying format introduced this season.

"I wish we could go back to qualifying the way it was before," said Castroneves, who best lap was better than Dixon's best. "But it is what it is."

Dixon's teammate Dan Wheldon took part in qualifying and claimed 11th on the grid, despite still suffering from pain in his right foot following a substantial practice crash on Friday afternoon.

He limped away from the car after the accident, but said his foot injury did not affect him when driving.

"The right side of it smashed against the tub," Wheldon said. "It's fine; I just can't put much weight on it.

Wheldon's crash was caused by a suspension breakdown, which sent him into the wall in Turn 4 before sliding down the frontstretch, where he flipped and rolled on the infield grass.

"That's probably the biggest hit I've had," Wheldon said. "That one hurt."

Wheldon's right ankle was X-rayed, but no bones were broken. He iced and wrapped the ankle, hobbled into his car, and proceeded to qualify 11th out of 28 cars.

Pos  Driver             Team                        Time
 1.  Scott Dixon        Target Chip Ganassi Racing  214.878mph
 2.  Helio Castroneves  Team Penske                 214.777mph
 3.  Ryan Briscoe       Team Penske                 213.927mph
 4.  Hideki Mutoh       Andretti Green Racing       213.485mph
 5.  Danica Patrick     Andretti Green Racing       213.238mph
 6.  Tomas Scheckter    Luczo Dragon Racing         213.212mph
 7.  John Andretti      Roth Racing                 212.844mph
 8.  Will Power         KV Racing Technology        212.595mph
 9.  Vitor Meira        Panther Racing              212.501mph
10.  Ryan Hunter-Reay   Rahal Letterman Racing      212.482mph
11.  Dan Wheldon        Target Chip Ganassi Racing  212.474mph
12.  Ed Carpenter       Vision Racing               212.247mph
13.  Tony Kanaan        Andretti Green Racing       212.152mph
14.  Marco Andretti     Andretti Green Racing       211.974mph
15.  AJ Foyt IV         Vision Racing               211.622mph
16.  Oriol Servia       KV Racing Technology        211.333mph
17.  Darren Manning     A.J. Foyt Enterprises       211.277mph
18.  Graham Rahal       Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing  211.128mph
19.  Marty Roth         Roth Racing                 211.122mph
20.  Enrique Bernoldi   Conquest Racing             210.731mph
21.  Jaime Camara       Conquest Racing             210.582mph
22.  Mario Moraes       Dale Coyne Racing           210.254mph
23.  Justin Wilson      Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing  210.160mph
24.  Mario Dominguez    Pacific Coast Motorsports   210.059mph
25.  Buddy Rice         Dreyer & Reinbold Racing    209.622mph
26.  Bruno Junqueira    Dale Coyne Racing           209.572mph
27.  Milka Duno         Dreyer & Reinbold Racing    209.420mph
28.  EJ Viso            HVM Racing                  209.313mph