Dario Franchitti Claims NBC12 Pole Award for SunTrust Indy Challenge

Audio: Franchitti NBC 12 Pole Award Press Conference

Dario Franchitti claimed the NBC12 Pole Award for tomorrow night’s SunTrust Indy Challenge IndyCar Series race.  Franchitti, who won this race in 2007, had a four-lap cumulative average of 167.315 mph.  He will be joined by his Target Chip Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon, who came in at 166.638 mph.

Franchitti commented, “We did a couple of qualifying sims at the end of practice and the car had not bad balance, but we went back to the truck and Scott’s crew and my crew sat and worked and we talked about what each of our cars were doing. Scott’s guys went over to the set-up we had come up with and both cars were obviously good in qualifying. The car was fast and we got the job done. It’s great to have both Target cars up front.”

Dixon was a little frustrated to come up short of the pole. “Unfortunately the car was really good and I would say the car should have been closer to pole if not on pole. I kind of let that down. We’ve got a great car for the race.”

The front row sweep is followed by the all-Team Penske row, with Helio Castroneves (3^rd) and Ryan Briscoe (4^th) close behind.  Grahal Rahal, Raphael Matos, E.J. Viso and Hideki Mutoh round out the first four rows.

All of the drivers will hit the track again tonight for the final practice session at 9:00 p.m.  It will be their final preparation before tomorrow night’s SunTrust Indy Challenge at 8:30 p.m.  Tickets are on sale for $35 (reserved) and $30 (general admission).  Children 12 and under are admitted free with a ticketed adult in general admission sections.  Saturday’s ticket includes a seat for the James River Grounds 100 USAC Silver Crown Series race, preceding the SunTrust Indy Challenge.

For tickets and information, click here or call 866-455-RACE (7223).