However, the drama is far from complete. Dixon will start from the No. 2 starting position next to Castroneves’ teammate, Ryan Briscoe, who won the pole for Sunday’s race with an average of 215.818 mph in the No. 6 Team Penske Dallara-Honda.
Before the official ruling, Dixon complained to reporters about Castroneves dropping below the white line during his qualifying effort. When told that Dixon was complaining, Castroneves responded.
“I don’t have anything to say about it,” he said. “It was a clean lap. It was fine.”
Minutes later, the official ruling was handed down. Castroneves would start 28th instead of fifth, his chances of a championship all but trashed.
It was the second serious sanction handed down by Barnhart against Castroneves in a span of six days. On Sunday in Detroit, Castroneves was penalized one position for blocking Justin Wilson. The ruling cost Castroneves a win and a handful of points; this one may have cost him any realistic shot of catching Dixon.
During the press conference before he found out about the disqualification, Castroneves joked about the Detroit penalty. When a reporter asked Briscoe if he would block for his teammate, Castroneves chuckled. “Blocking,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Oh, boy.”
Briscoe indicated he would do his best to stay ahead of Dixon, but wouldn’t resort to chicanery to assist in a championship.
“All I can do is be up front and be competitive and stop Dixon from leading the most laps,” Briscoe said. “That’s going to be a tough task in itself. He’s been very fast in practice, but so have I. Hopefully I can keep him from leading the most laps, but there’s not much you can do. Helio needs to go out and have a good strong race. We don’t wish bad fortune on anyone, but Dixon needs to have a bit of bad luck. I’m just going to try to run a good race.”
Following Briscoe and Dixon in the second row will be Danica Patrick, whose four-lap run was just 0.0021 seconds behind Dixon’s run of 215.553 mph in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara-Honda. “I wish I could have gotten the pole,” Patrick said, “but we’re starting on the second row. Hopefully we can keep it up front and end the season with a solid finish.”
Patrick’s teammate, Tony Kanaan, will start fourth, followed by another AGR driver, Marco Andretti. Dan Wheldon, racing for the final
time in the No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Dallara-Honda, will start sixth. Tomas Scheckter and Vitor Meira fill the fourth row, followed by Marty Roth and Will Power.
But the advantage heading into the 2008 finale lies clearly with Dixon, who has to finish eighth or worse for Castroneves to have a chance.
“Helio has a lot of work to do,” Dixon said. “I would hate to think we couldn’t do any better than eighth.”
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PEAK Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy 300 qualifying results
Pos. Driver, Team, Speed
1. Ryan Briscoe, Penske, 215.818
2. Scott Dixon, Ganassi, 215.553
3. Danica Patrick, Andretti Green, 215.548
4. Tony Kanaan, Andretti Green, 215.368
5. Marco Andretti, Andretti Green, 215.064
6. Dan Wheldon, Ganassi, 214.967
7. Tomas Scheckter, Luczo Dragon, 214.855
8. Vitor Meira, Panther, 214.796
9. Marty Roth, Roth, 214.794
10. Will Power, KV, 214.583
11. Hideki Mutoh, Andretti Green, 214.444
12. Oriol Servia, KV, 214.441
13. Ed Carpenter, Vision 213.875
14. Graham Rahal, Newman/Haas/Lanigan, 213.523
15. A.J. Foyt IV, Vision, 213.485
16. Ryan Hunter-Reay, Rahal Letterman, 213.430
17. Jaime Camara, Conquest, 213.417
18. Sarah Fisher, Fisher, 213.389
19. Alex Tagliani, Conquest, 213.305
20. Milka Duno, Dreyer & Reinbold, 212.857
21. Justin Wilson, Newman/Haas/Lanigan, 212.753
22. Buddy Rice, Dreyer & Reinbold, 212.682
23. Darren Manning, Foyt, 212.406
24. Franck Perera, Foyt, 212.126
25. Bruno Junqueira, Dale Coyne, 212.040
26. E.J. Viso, HVM, 211.996
27. Mario Moraes, Dale Coyne, 211.451
DQ Helio Castroneves, Penske, 215.372
