Kanaan on pole in Kansas

Coming just a week after his victory at Motegi, Kanaan's qualifying performance bodes well for the Indianapolis month, and suggests that Andretti-Green Racing's slump has come to an end.

Kanaan ended a streak of 29 races without a pole and broke a streak of 15 consecutive poles by either Team Penske or Target Chip Ganassi Racing with his lap of 25.5476 seconds (214.198 mph).
 
"I'm not going to sit here and brag about a pole position because I know what's going to happen tomorrow - it's going to be a tough race," Kanaan said.

"I'd rather come back here tomorrow and brag about a race win. I'll be competitive, but who's going to win this race? I have no idea.

"Did we expect to be on the pole? No. Did we expect to be better? Yes."
 
Kanaan's lap was just 0.0234 seconds faster than front row partner Sam Hornish Jr. The champion's Penske teammate Helio Castroneves will start third, followed by Ganassi drivers Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon.
 
Hornish, who won from the number two starting position last year at Kansas, likes his chances from the same position this year.
 
"The way I look at it, we started here second last year and won the race, so maybe it's a good omen," Hornish said.

"The race is long enough and the track is wide enough that - if you have the right car and the right crew - you can win this race from any starting position."
 
Dario Franchitti will start sixth for Andretti-Green, followed by Tomas Scheckter (Vision Racing). Vitor Meira, Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick rounded out the top 10.

Qualifying times:

Pos  Driver             Team               Time
 1.  Tony Kanaan        Andretti-Green     25.5476
 2.  Sam Hornish Jr     Penske             25.5710  + 0.0234
 3.  Helio Castroneves  Penske             25.5920  + 0.0444
 4.  Dan Wheldon        Ganassi            25.5926  + 0.0450
 5.  Scott Dixon        Ganassi            25.5949  + 0.0477
 6.  Dario Franchitti   Andretti-Green     25.6811  + 0.1335
 7.  Tomas Scheckter    Vision             25.8073  + 0.2597
 8.  Vitor Meira        Panther            25.8315  + 0.2839
 9.  Marco Andretti     Andretti-Green     25.8347  + 0.2871
10.  Danica Patrick     Andretti-Green     25.8362  + 0.2886
11.  Darren Manning     Foyt               25.8513  + 0.3037
12.  Kosuke Matsuura    Panther            25.8721  + 0.3245
13.  Ed Carpenter       Vision             25.8782  + 0.3306
14.  Scott Sharp        Rahal-Letterman    25.8816  + 0.3340
15.  AJ Foyt IV         Vision             25.9088  + 0.3612
16.  Jeff Simmons       Rahal-Letterman    25.9344  + 0.3868
17.  Sarah Fisher       Dreyer & Reinbold  25.9889  + 0.4413
18.  Buddy Rice         Dreyer & Reinbold  25.9921  + 0.4445
19.  Marty Roth         Roth               26.1212  + 0.5736
20.  Alex Barron        Beck               26.1746  + 0.6270
21.  Milka Duno         Samax              26.2754  + 0.7278