It was both feast and famine for Team Penske Saturday at The Milwaukee Mile, as Ryan Briscoe qualified
on the pole for Sunday’s ABC Building Supply/A.J. Foyt 225, but teammate and last week’s Indianapolis
500 winner Helio Castroneves crashed in Turn 2 at the start of his qualifying run and will start at the rear
of the 20-car field.
For the second consecutive year, Graham Rahal will start on the outside of the front row of this historic,
flat, one-mile oval, after qualifying second for Newman Haas Lanigan Racing. Still stiff and sore from his
massive crash last week at Indy, Andretti Green Racing’s Tony Kanaan will start third, with defending
series champion Scott Dixon qualifying fourth.
Also bouncing back from a crash at the Indy 500, Mario Moraes qualified fifth, with Hideki Mutoh, always
strong on the IndyCar Series’ short ovals, rounding out the top six qualifiers. Sunday’s 225-lap race
starts at 3:30 p.m. EDT, with live television coverage on ABC.
Ryan Briscoe (#6 Team Penske Honda) pole qualifier, his first pole of 2009, fifth career IndyCar
Series pole:
“I knew when I qualified ahead of [Graham] Rahal, it was going to be fast. He seems to get
around this place pretty good, and was on the front row last year. I was a bit worried about Helio
[Castroneves] and the Target team, but thankfully the time held up. We won from 11th [on the grid] last
year, so starting up front should keep me away from the chaos that always seems to happen here in the
first few laps. I had a great race car here last year, so hopefully we can repeat tomorrow.” |
May 30, 2009
