Castroneves awarded pole for Iowa 250

NEWTON, Iowa — With an assist from Will Power and some water that had seeped onto the track, Helio Castroneves was awarded the pole for Sunday’s Iowa Corn Indy 250.

Qualifying was first delayed and then canceled, so the Iowa 250 field will be stacked based on entrant points.

Ryan Briscoe, also from Team Penske, will start second. Target Chip Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti will start third and fourth followed by Danica Patrick.

Though it hadn’t rained on Saturday prior to qualifying, heavy thunderstorms swept through central Iowa on Friday. Qualifying was held up for about 75 minutes as officials worked to clear water on the backstretch. The session eventually got underway, but only three drivers; Scott Dixon, E.J. Viso and Hideki Mutoh were able to run before it was called off.

It was the second straight Iowa 250 qualifying run washed out because of rain.

Castroneves got the nod in part because of the 28 points earned by Power for the No. 3 car in the season opener in St. Petersburg, and Castroneves brought Power with him to accept the pole winner’s trophy.

“It’s a shame, because obviously you want to put on a great show for the fans,” Castroneves said. “But no question, it turned out to be the luck of the draw for me.”

There doesn’t appear to be a front-runner for Sunday’s race on Iowa’s 7-8-mile oval, but that’s been the case all season. No driver has held the points lead for more than one race, and even though Briscoe is currently atop the points standings, only 32 points separate him from Patrick in fifth.

“The good thing is, we’re up there in the points and get the front row start, so hopefully that’s going to help us tomorrow,” Briscoe said.

The driver to watch might be Castroneves, who has won two of the last three IRL races and took the Indianapolis 500 after also starting out from the pole.

Castroneves hasn’t had the best of luck at Iowa, though. He faded in 2007, finishing 8th despite leading after 59 laps, and he wound up 14th last year.

Franchitti, who led for 96 laps en route to a win at Iowa in the inaugural race in 2007, is back after a one-year stint in NASCAR, and he ran the day’s fastest practice lap at 182.031 mph.

Dan Wheldon took the checkered flag here a year ago for Ganassi, but he’s struggled somewhat since moving over to Panther Racing. Wheldon is sixth in the points standings, but he’s only cracked the top five twice in six starts.

Mutoh, last season’s Rookie of the Year, had a career best finish at Iowa in 2008 by taking second. Mutoh’s Andretti Green teammate Marco Andretti has also run well in Iowa, overcoming so-so starting positions to finish second in 2007 and third in 2008.

The word from the drivers is that the Iowa Speedway is a short oval that plays more like a super speedway, where drivers can put the pedal to the metal.

There was also a lot more passing and side-by-side racing last year than in the first race, when cold weather and slick tires led to three accidents that bogged down the action.

Firestone Racing executive director Al Speyer said the tires will be made of the same compound used in 2008.

“It’s very fast,” Briscoe said. “By far the quickest oval, short oval we come to. It’s high banked, for us, but it’s still got a very tight radius. It’s crazy, you go out and the speeds we can carry are quite phenomenal, and that’s what makes it unique to the rest of the tracks. We run less downforce at this short oval compared to Milwaukee or Richmond, but you know still feel that high-grip feeling that you get on short ovals.”