Franchitti takes Michigan pole

Franchitti took pole with a lap of 32.9810 seconds at an average speed of 218.308 mph around the two-mile oval in the No.27 Andretti Green Racing Honda/Dallara.

It was the second pole of the season for Franchitti in what is likely to be the last open-wheel race at the 40-year-old facility.

The Indy Racing League and International Speedway Corp, which operates the track, were unable to come to terms on a date for the 2008 season.

The pole also was timely in another fashion: Franchitti leads Scott Dixon by just 24 points in the IndyCar Series championship battle.

Franchitti will start six spots ahead of Dixon, who won the last three races at Michigan while Franchitti finished second behind him in the last two.

"The biggest problem is that Dixon has done such a good job of running up front lately," Franchitti said. "I'll just keep my head down and keep fighting until the last race."

Michigan has been in many drivers' playbooks far longer than the six times the IndyCar Series has visited the track. Most of the former CART drivers now in the IndyCar Series - including Franchitti, Dixon, Castroneves and Tony Kanaan - raced at MIS multiple times prior to moving to the IRL.

For a time, CART employed the Handford wing, a high-drag, low-downforce rear wing that made for some wild back-and-forth racing at MIS.

"It was a completely different style of racing," Franchitti said. "You had a lot of horsepower and yet they were very fast. Each (type of racing) is challenging in its own way. There's not one that I would say is more difficult than the other."

Franchitti, the third driver on the track for Saturday's qualifying session, laid down a lap fast enough to hold off later challenges from Team Penske drivers Sam Hornish Jr and Helio Castroneves. Hornish came closest, piloting the No. 6 Penske Honda/Dallara to a lap of 33.0765 seconds (217.677 mph).

"The Team Penske guys and I made a decision between the first and second practices to make some pretty big changes on the car," Hornish said. "We didn't think it hurt the car that much, but in the second session we couldn't find the speed we wanted."

Castroneves, who won the race last year, said he didn't spend much of Saturday's practice time on qualifying, instead focusing on race setup. Still, he recorded a solid 33.0436-second lap and will start third.

"This is a long race," he said. "There will be plenty of time to climb to the front."

Scott Sharp will start fourth in the No. 8 Rahal Letterman Racing Honda/Dallara, followed by Dan Wheldon in the No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda/Dallara and Tomas Scheckter in the No. 2 Vision Racing Honda/Dallara. Dixon's bid for a fourth consecutive victory will start from inside the fourth row.

"I'm not sure your starting position matters much here as long as you're in the top 10," Dixon said. "People have come from even further back to win this race. You can definitely pass if you have a good car."

Come Sunday, they'll all be trying to pass the guy who has control of the championship with five races remaining in the season.

"It's not a tough track to pass on if your car is quick," Franchitti said. "Last year I could get up behind people, but I couldn't get the momentum to pass them. This time, we seemed to be able to pass them."

Pos  Driver                Speed
 1.  Dario Franchitti      218.308
 2.  Sam Hornish Jr        218.024
 3.  Helio Castroneves     217.894
 4.  Scott Sharp           217.631
 5.  Dan Wheldon           217.448
 6.  Tomas Scheckter       217.434
 7.  Scott Dixon           217.369
 8.  Tony Kanaan           217.192
 9.  Danica Patrick        216.967
10.  Ed Carpenter          216.295
11.  Vitor Meira           215.957
12.  Ryan Hunter-Reay      215.878
13.  Marco Andretti        215.809
14.  Kosuke Matsuura       215.371
15.  AJ Foyt IV            215.335
16.  Sarah Fisher          215.297
17.  Buddy Rice            214.859
18.  Darren Manning        214.175
19.  Milka Duno            212.901
20.  Jon Herb              -