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NAZARETH, Pa. - Helio Castroneves is in position to win the 100th IRL race after taking the pole Saturday for the final event at Nazareth Speedway.
The defending race champion hopes to present car owner Roger Penske with a victory today in the Firestone Indy 225. Penske built the track in 1986 but later merged his racing facilities with those of International Speedway Corp. ISC said in May the mile oval would close after this season.
Castroneves posted a fast lap of 167.396 mph. He will be joined in the front row by teammate Sam Hornish Jr., who went 167.100.
"I'm extremely happy for the whole team, especially being on the front row right in the back yard of Team Penske," Castroneves said, referring to Penske's operation based in nearby Reading.
Indianapolis 500 champion Buddy Rice, hoping to match the series record for poles in a season, failed to come close to his sixth. He wound up 10th on the 22-car grid.
FORMULA ONE: Jarno Trulli, the only driver to beat Michael Schumacher this season, nipped Schumacher for the pole in today's Belgian Grand Prix.
Schumacher came out last in a rainstorm and used slower, wet-weather tires after Trulli lapped with a quicker, dry-weather alternative at Spa-Francorchamps.
Schumacher doesn't have to win today to claim an unprecedented seventh drivers title. All he needs is to finish two points ahead of teammate Rubens Barrichello - the only driver with a chance to overtake him - to complete the Ferrari sweep of the points standings.
CHAMP CAR: Sebastien Bourdais of Tampa captured the pole position for the Montreal Molson Indy, his sixth pole this season and third in a row.
After rookie A.J. Allmendinger knocked Bourdais off the pole with about three minutes remaining in the 35-minute qualifying session, Bourdais could have settled for the runnerup spot, of which he was guaranteed after taking the provisional pole Friday.
Instead, Bourdais made one last run on the 2.709-mile, 13-turn Circuit Gilles Villeneueve road course and drove his Newman/Haas Lola to a lap of 1 minute, 19.897 seconds at 122.062 mph that kept Allmendinger from winning his first career pole with his 1:20.272.
Bourdais' last lap was nearly perfect, earning the second-year driving star his 11th career pole.