INDYCAR: Ganassi 'juniors' top aces in qualifying

After Tony Kanaan led the way in Saturday's opening practice for the Iowa Corn 300, the former Iowa race winner marked Chip Ganassi Racing as a favorite in qualifying. As things transpired, though, Kanaan and reigning series champ Scott Dixon will be looking up the grid at the start through a group that includes their other two teammates. Rookie Max Chilton and Charlie Kimball both slotted in ahead of Kanaan in fourth and fifth, respectively, while Dixon wound up back in 10th.

"The Gallagher car was really strong today. It was loose – probably too loose, but when I qualified here last year on the pole in Indy Lights I was too loose," mused Chilton. "I think that's the just the way it is around here. You have to be on the limit, especially in qualifying. I think in the race you need a car that you're confident with, but in qualifying you just have to go for it."

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Kimball credited the info shared among the team's drivers from testing for his showing.

"The Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys started this morning with a good car after learning a lot from Max after his test here last week and Scott's tire test early in the year," he said. "I haven't seen this place since last year – but it's probably a good thing with how the bumps have changed.

"The first couple of laps it was pretty free and I was sliding a lot, but I made some adjustments to my tools and took a really big swing at it and had to pedal it a bit."

Dixon admitted to being caught out at the start of his run.

"Going to the green flag lap I had a bit of a moment and nearly lost it," he related. "I had to downshift and that really hurt our momentum. I was a little bit timid after that, but we have a good Target car and will be ready for the race."

Similarly, Kanaan remained confident in his race prospects.

"It's safe to say that I left everything I had out on the track for that qualifying run," said the Brazilian. "The car felt really loose and honestly, it felt like I was close to crashing a few times, but we'll take a sixth-place starting spot for the race tomorrow. This track really suits me and I came from much further back when I won here in 2010...."