Meira finally gets his due

Meira's lap of 21.5781seconds (169.338 mph) was just enough to keep Tony Kanaan from stealing the pole and made at least partial amends for Meira's disappointing weekend at Nashville Superspeedway. In that event, Rice bounced Meira off the pole, and Meira then led the first 113 laps before a bad pitstop dropped him to 15th. He raced up to seventh in four laps, but eventually faded to a 12th-place finish.

This time, everything went right. He took the No. 17 Rahal Letterman Racing Honda-powered Panoz G Force fairly low through the 9-degree turns to post the second IRL pole of his career.

"It's not that this makes up for it - we didn't deserve to win the last race because we made too many mistakes," Meira said. "We had the quickest car, we had the quickest Honda engine, but we didn't deserve it. Today, the Centrix was the quickest one. We took advantage of everything we had, and it paid off."

Kanaan, the 19th of 22 drivers to qualify, was clocked in 21.6730 seconds - 168.597 mph. He'll start alongside Meira when the green flag waves Sunday on the Menards A.J. Foyt 225, which is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

"We struggled a lot in the test here last month," Kanaan said. "We worked together to get a good setup, and I think we nailed it."

Meira's team-mate, Buddy Rice, qualified third-fastest at 21.7149 seconds. Sam Hornish Jr. was the fastest Toyota qualifier on a cool, overcast afternoon. He was followed by team-mate Helio Castroneves, Adrian Fernandez, Dario Franchitti and Tomas Scheckter.

"Milwaukee is one of those tracks where setup is key, and I am really happy with how my car is handling this weekend," Hornish said. "It'll be tough to pass out here tomorrow, so pit stops will be very important."

Scott Dixon was transported to nearby Froedtert Memorial Hospital for X-rays on his right knee and left ankle after the No. 1T Target Chip Ganassi Toyota/G Force crashed in turn four during his qualifying attempt. Dixon was driving the back-up car because his primary car had crashed during the morning practice session.

"My knee and ankle are a bit sore from being bumped around," said Dixon, who recorded a lap of 22.2236 seconds before the crash and will start 15th. "The doctors will take a look at it, but I'm sure we'll be good to go for tomorrow's race."

Unlike many of his colleagues who have experienced the quirks of Milwaukee in CART, Indy Lights or Toyota Atlantics, Meira is racing on the 100-year-old mile oval for the first time. However, Kenny Brack won a CART Champ Car Series race at the track for Bobby Rahal in 2001. Brack continues to recover from injuries sustained in the 2003 finale at Texas.

"Kenny has been helping us so much with this," Meira said. "It's almost like he's here driving. We brought all of that experience with us today, and we've made good use of it."