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Franchitti on pole at Homestead, earns much needed bonus point

Fri 9th, October 2009

Homestead, FL (Sports Network) - Dario Franchitti captured the pole for the Firestone Indy 300, while his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon qualified second and Ryan Briscoe from Team Penske claimed third, as the three drivers duke it out for IndyCar Series championship in Saturday's season- ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Franchitti, the second driver to qualify in the 23-car field, turned a four- lap average on the 1.5-mile oval at 212.696 m.p.h. for his fifth pole of the season and the 11th of his IndyCar career. By winning the pole, he was awarded one bonus point, which moved him to within four points of leader Dixon.

"I was pleasantly surprised since we hadn't run quite well in practice this morning," Franchitti said.

Dixon qualified 0.25 seconds behind Franchitti to give Ganassi the front starting row for the second straight race.

"The car was loose to start with," Dixon said. "That was a handful, but the car is still strong. I just went the wrong way on some adjustments."

Last month in Japan, Dixon grabbed the pole and Franchitti secured the second position. Dixon went on to lead 139 laps en route to his series-leading fifth victory of the season.

Briscoe enters the season-finale eight points behind Dixon.

"I don't know if the track got slower at the end, but I think we did about what we were expecting to do," said Briscoe, who qualified late in the session for a third-place effort.

Ed Carpenter will share the second row with Briscoe, while Alex Lloyd and Graham Rahal will begin from row three.

Danica Patrick qualified seventh, followed by Marco Andretti, Raphael Matos and Mario Moraes.

Helio Castroneves will start 11th in a backup car after wrecking his primary in practice earlier in the day. Castroneves complained of soreness in his knees and shoulders, but had been cleared by medical officials to drive.

Tomorrow's 300-mile is scheduled to begin around 5:00 p.m. (et).