Wheldon posts first IRL pole

Wheldon captured his first pole in the IRL IndyCar Series by circling the one-mile oval in 20.5974 seconds (174.779 mph) in the AGR Honda-powered Dallara.

"Let's not get too excited about it just yet," said Wheldon, the IRL rookie of the year last season. "Last year, I tended to struggle a little bit on the short ovals. But with the help of TK and Dario, I've gotten much better on shorter tracks."

Following Wheldon and Kanaan on the grid for Sunday's start are Penske teammates Helio Castroneves and Sam Hornish Jr, who fill the second row, and Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and Darren Manning, who fill the third row.

"Honestly, I was lucky to keep it off the wall," Castroneves said. "The good news is we're starting third."

After Wheldon, just the second driver to qualify, assumed the top position, 18 others tried and failed to knock him off. Among them was Kanaan, whose best lap was 174.291 mph.

"It was a good one, but not good enough to beat my teammate," Kanaan said. "We thought it would be an advantage with Dan going out first. We figured we could share his information. We've got four cars in the top nine. That's an amazing accomplishment."