Backstretch Motorsports

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (Saturday, April 25, 2009) - Graham Rahal won his second career pole position and his first on an oval, edging teammate Robert Doornbos by three-tenths of a second as Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing swept the front row for the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway.

Earlier this month, Rahal became the youngest pole winner in major open-wheel racing history at the season-opening race at St. Petersburg, Fla. Two races later, the 20-year-old is on the pole for the first time on an oval. He qualified second at Milwaukee last year.

Doornbos, a rookie who will be making his first start on an oval, qualified second, marking the 40th time in IndyCar Series history that teammates will start 1-2. Rahal recorded a four-lap qualifying average of 211.311 mph, while Doornbos was at 210.665 mph.

Danica Patrick qualified third on the 1.5-mile oval, and will start on the second row next to reigning series champion Scott Dixon.

Dan Wheldon, the winner of the last two races at Kansas Speedway, will start ninth in his attempt to become the third driver to win three consecutive races at a track.

Series points leader Dario Franchitti will start 20th, and Helio Castroneves will start 21st. Both drivers were penalized for driving under the white line during their qualifying attempts. Castroneves was penalized for the same reason in the 2008 season finale at Chicagoland and went on to win the race after starting 28th.

Also on Saturday, 2005 Firestone Indy Lights champion Wade Cunningham won his first pole in two years, winning the pole for the Kansas Lottery 100. Cunningham recorded a two-lap qualifying average of 187.458 mph.

Sebastian Saavedra qualified second, Ana Beatriz was third, J.R. Hildebrand fourth and Pippa Mann fifth.

The Kansas Lottery 100 is scheduled for 1 p.m. (ET) Sunday, while the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 is scheduled for 5 p.m.

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PEAK PERFORMANCE POLE QUALIFYING NOTES:

· Graham Rahal won the pole, his second career pole. He also won the pole earlier this season at St. Petersburg, becoming the youngest pole winner in major open-wheel racing history.

· Rahal’s previous best start on an oval was second last year at Milwaukee.

· This is the second IndyCar Series pole for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.

· Robert Doornbos qualified second in his first start on an oval. His previous best start was ninth at Long Beach.

· This is the 40th time in IndyCar Series history that teammates will start 1-2. The feat happened six times last year, most recently at Infineon when Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe qualified 1-2 for Team Penske.

· Danica Patrick qualified third, her best starting position of the season and her best since starting third last year at Chicagoland.

· Scott Dixon qualified fourth, his 18th consecutive top-10 start, the longest active streak in the IndyCar Series. It is his first top-five start of the season.

· Marco Andretti qualified fifth, his first top-five start of the season and his best start since fifth at Chicagoland last season.

· Mario Moraes qualified sixth, his best career start. His previous best was 10th at Edmonton last year.

· Dan Wheldon, the two-time defending winner at Kansas Speedway, qualified ninth. He has started second and fourth, respectively, the last two seasons.

· Sarah Fisher and Milka Duno qualified 11th and 12th, respectively, in their 2009 debuts.

· Dario Franchitti and Helio Castroneves were penalized for driving below the white line. They will start 21st and 22nd, respectively.

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INDYCAR SERIES POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES:

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 02 McDonald’s Racing Team, first): “It’s a fantastic start for the McDonald’s team. First of all, for us to get a pole when we go to St. Petersburg, and then to do it again here at Kansas, I think it’s quite a shock. And obviously in memory of Paul (Newman), it’s great for us to have this success early in the season. Now of course there’s still a long way to go, but for us to get our first (oval) pole here, I hope it’s a sign of things to come.”

ROBERT DOORNBOS (No. 06 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, second): “Graham has more experience on the ovals. I’ve been watching some videos, and I think last year the Ganassi boys ran one-two and pulled away helping each other. I don’t think it’s a good thing if we’re not helping each other because then I’ll be sitting in an office in Chicago (team headquarters) probably explaining myself. It’s a team effort that we’re here. They’ve worked very hard in the winter. I went out first then the engineers saw what they could do and improve and he grabbed the pole and now we’re second. So I think it’s been a great team result, and I think we need to thank the boys in the race tomorrow.”

DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Motorola, third): “I thought it was hard to get up to speed, and the No. 7 car was maybe the most loose it’s ever been on an oval. It was a handful, but we ended up finding a pretty good speed and were able to put the Motorola car up front. I’m looking forward to a good race tomorrow.”

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, fourth): “We need to get a good result. It’s been frustrating what we’ve had these past two races and before you know it you’ve let too many points go. We’re going to try to make the most of it. I’m going to try to stay clear of the Australian out there (Ryan Briscoe), and hopefully they’ll stop picking on me.”

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 26 Team Venom Energy, fifth): “Qualifying today was not a bad showing for Team Venom Energy. As the session went on, the track got better and better, and that’s the down side of drawing an early number, but overall not a bad result. We’ll work hard tomorrow to keep the No. 26 car up front.”

MARIO MORAES (No. 5 KV Racing Technology/Votorantim, sixth): “I think the KV Racing Technology-Votorantim team did a great job. This is my best IndyCar Series career qualifying position. The KVRT engineers made the right decision about changing the setup of the car. They did a great job, and the crew did an outstanding job preparing the car. Last year, I wasn’t able to qualify because my wheel nut came loose in practice and I had to start the race from the back. This year however, I am in a much better position and I look forward to the race tomorrow.”

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske, seventh): “I’m not unhappy, but I definitely don’t think we got the most out of the Team Penske car in qualifying today. I just couldn’t keep it down in Turns 3 and 4 with the wind as strong as it was. But that’s OK. We should be in good shape for tomorrow. I think we’ve got a really competitive race car, and hopefully we’ll have a good run.”

TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Team 7-Eleven, eighth): “The No. 11 car was really loose in qualifying today. I’m disappointed with were we ended up, but tomorrow will be a new day for Team 7-Eleven and we’ll see what it brings.”

DAN WHELDON (No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing, ninth): “We were incredibly loose in qualifying, but that’s because we really decided to attack and have a run for the pole. The National Guard Panther Racing car will be strong for the race. Obviously there are opportunities to overtake here. We decided we were going to be aggressive, and it caught us out a bit, but that’s part of it. It wasn’t the wind really, it was just a shame that we were too loose. We haven’t had much running yet, but we’ll work on things in the morning warm-up tomorrow and make sure we’re strong for the race. It’s one of those things, and it’s certainly going to be an exciting race for fans of the IndyCar Series. I always seem to go well around here, so we’re excited about our potential.”

ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing, 10th): “With just one practice before qualifying, we went pretty aggressive and overdid it a little bit for qualifying with the wind anyways. The car was really good through Turns 1 and 2 but there was too much understeer going through Turns 3 and 4. It’s too bad because I think we could easily have run in the 210 mph range with some changes. Today definitely wasn’t the day to be going out first, but that’s the luck of the draw. We missed a little on setup, so I’m not terribly happy with how qualifying went, but I’m looking forward to race day. I know we’ll make our way up to the front with the No.20 Menards car. We always have a good race car. I’m more worried about the weather (possibility of rain on race day).”

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IndyCar Series
Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway
Sunday, April 26, 2009
STARTING LINEUP
SP Car Driver Hometown Car Name Entrant Time Speed
ROW 1
1 02 Graham Rahal Columbus, Ohio McDonald’s Racing Team Newman/ Haas/ Lanigan Racing 1:43.5819 211.311
2 06 R Robert Doornbos Rotterdam, Netherlands Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Newman/ Haas/ Lanigan Racing 1:43.8994 210.665
ROW 2
3 7 Danica Patrick Roscoe, Ill. Motorola Andretti Green Racing 1:43.9956 210.470
4 9 Scott Dixon Auckland, New Zealand Target Chip Ganassi Racing Target Chip Ganassi Racing 1:44.0464 210.368
ROW 3
5 26 Marco Andretti Nazareth, Pa. Team Venom Energy Andretti Green Racing 1:44.1195 210.220
6 5 Mario Moraes Sao Paulo, Brazil KV Racing Technology/Votorantim KV Racing Technology 1:44.1308 210.197
ROW 4
7 6 Ryan Briscoe Sydney, Australia Team Penske Team Penske 1:44.1800 210.098
8 11 Tony Kanaan Salvador, Brazil Team 7-Eleven Andretti Green Racing 1:44.1878 210.082
ROW 5
9 4 Dan Wheldon Emberton, England National Guard Panther Racing Panther Racing 1:44.6550 209.144
10 20 Ed Carpenter Indianapolis Menards/Vision Racing Vision Racing 1:44.7491 208.956
ROW 6
11 67 Sarah Fisher Commercial Point, Ohio Dollar General/Sarah Fisher Racing Sarah Fisher Racing 1:44.9568 208.543
12 23 Milka Duno Caracas, Venezuela CITGO/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 1:44.9598 208.537
ROW 7
13 27 Hideki Mutoh Tokyo Formula Dream Andretti Green Racing 1:44.9752 208.506
14 14 Vitor Meira Brasilia, Brazil ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing A.J. Foyt Enterprises 1:44.9979 208.461
ROW 8
15 2 R Raphael Matos Belo Horizonte, Brazil US Air Force Luczo Dragon Luczo Dragon Racing 1:45.0379 208.382
16 24 R Mike Conway Bromley, Kent, England Dad’s Root Beer Dreyer & Reinbold Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 1:45.1574 208.145
ROW 9
17 18 Justin Wilson Sheffield, England Z-Line Designs Dale Coyne Racing 1:45.2455 207.971
18 13 E.J. Viso Caracas, Venezuela PDVSA HVM Racing HVM Racing 1:45.8521 206.779
ROW 10
19 98 R Stanton Barrett Bishop, Calif. CURB/Agajanian/Team 3G CURB/ Agajanian/ Team 3G 1:46.3455 205.820
20 21 Ryan Hunter-Reay Boca Raton, Fla. Vision Racing Vision Racing 1:46.4216 205.673
ROW 11
21 10 Dario Franchitti Edinburgh, Scotland Nicorette Target Chip Ganassi Racing no time no speed
22 3 Helio Castroneves Sao Paulo, Brazil Team Penske Team Penske no time no speed
PEAK Performance Pole Award Winner: Graham Rahal
Legend: R - IndyCar Series Rookie Chassis Legend: D - Dallara (22)
Engine Legend: H - Honda (22) Tire Legend: F - Firestone (22) Issued: April 25, 2009

The #13 HVM Racing car driven by E.J. Viso failed the post-qualifying technical inspection and will start at the rear of the field.