Winning the pole earns Briscoe a point in the championship race. This is his fourth pole of the season, and he leads in the championship by five points; pole positions could end up being the deciding factor in this year’s championship battle.
“It was a good four laps I put in,” Briscoe said after qualifying, “I was just happy that the point didn’t go to either of the other two red cars of Ganassi.” [referring to the Target-Ganassi cars of Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon, his championship rivals.]
When asked what starting from the pole meant at Chicagoland, Briscoe responded, laughing, “Probably not a lot. We saw Helio start last, last year, and win the race.”
Chicagoland is a fast, 1.5-mile banked oval. With cars lapping in the 25-second range, the leaders will be catching the back of the pack early on, and traffic will always be an issue. Plotting a course through slower traffic, setting up passes, and using slower cars to impede the competition will be the keys to winning.
“We’ve got this new aero package which I think is going to make the racing extremely intense, it’s going to be a tough one,” Briscoe said. “Hopefully we can keep the car at the front all night.”
Dario Franchitti, who is second to Brisoe in the points race, qualified third, the only other driver to break 215 mph. Teammate and defending champion Scott Dixon, currently third in the points, could qualify no better than seventh.
Tony Kanaan, who has been having a terrible season, got a bit of a break, qualifying fourth, while his Andretti-Green racing teammates Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick, managed sixth and eighth. If the once-powerful AGR has finally found the right set-up, after struggl ing all season, the Peak 300 could be the most fiercely contested race to date.
The race begins at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Please visit the Chicagoland Speedway site for ticket information.
| Qualifying—Peak 300 | |||
|
| Driver | Lap Time | Speed |
| 1 | Ryan Briscoe | 0025.4033 | 215.405 |
| 2 | Helio Castroneves | 00:25.4066 | 215.377 |
| 3 | Dario Franchitti | 00:25.4407 | 215.088 |
| 4 | Tony Kanaan | 00:25.4780 | 214.774 |
| 5 | Graham Rahal | 00:25.4927 | 214.650 |
| 6 | Marco Andretti | 00:25.4987 | 214.599 |
| 7 | Scott Dixon | 00:25.5041 | 214.554 |
| 8 | Danica Patrick | 00:25.5249 | 214.379 |
| 9 | Mario Moraes | 00:25.5250 | 214.378 |
| 10 | Oriol Servia | 00:25.5393 | 214.258 |
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