Herta Takes Michigan Pole

Herta lapped the D-shaped, 2-mile oval circuit with a best average speed of 219.141mph to qualify ahead of Tomas Scheckter, who grabbed his fourth successive top-5 grid position, and his fourth front row start in 2005.

Herta, still chasing a win this season - with a best finish in third, in the Indianapolis 500, was the third drive to run his qualifying attempt. But his best lap withstood challenge and remained the fastest of the day.

Behind Herta and Scheckter will line up Buddy Rice and Scott Dixon, with Buddy Lazier and Scott Sharp taking the third row.

Herta's teammate Dario Franchitti will start from seventh position, with rookie Danica Patrick alongside him in eighth.

Pos  Driver              Make-Engine      Speed
 1.  Bryan Herta         Dallara-Honda    219.141
 2.  Tomas Scheckter     Dallara-Chevy    219.100
 3.  Buddy Rice          Panoz-Honda      218.909
 4.  Scott Dixon         Panoz-Toyota     218.890
 5.  Buddy Lazier        Dallara-Chevy    218.855
 6.  Scott Sharp         Panoz-Honda      218.745
 7.  Dario Franchitti    Dallara-Honda    218.570
 8.  Danica Patrick      Panoz-Honda      218.479
 9.  Vitor Meira         Panoz-Honda      217.590
10.  Townsend Bell       Dallara-Chevy    217.502
11.  Dan Wheldon         Dallara-Honda    217.486
12.  Kosuke Matsuura     Panoz-Honda      217.388
13.  Sam Hornish Jr.     Dallara-Toyota   217.373
14.  Tony Kanaan         Dallara-Honda    217.167
15.  Jaques Lazier       Panoz-Toyota     216.956
16.  Helio Castroneves   Dallara-Toyota   216.846
17.  Ryan Briscoe        Panoz-Toyota     216.513
18.  Roger Yasukawa      Dallara-Honda    215.308
19.  Patrick Carpentier  Dallara-Toyota   215.027
20.  Alex Barron         Dallara-Toyota   214.815
21.  Jimmy Kite          Dallara-Toyota   214.095
22.  A.J. Foyt IV        Dallara-Toyota   214.040
23.  Ed Carpenter        Dallara-Toyota   212.416