Dixon wins pole for 101st Indianapolis 500

Scott Dixon said he thought the electronic gods were messing with him as he completed the first lap of his qualifying run Saturday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"I thought maybe the dash had broken on the steering wheel and brought up a fake number," said the 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner after his first lap read 232.595 mph. "We seriously didn't expect to see that speed.

"And I was worried before the run that we'd trimmed too much."

Credit engineer Chris Simmons and teammate Tony Kanaan for convincing Dixon to go for it and capture the pole position for Sunday's 101st Indianapolis 500 in his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

"Before qualifying Chris and I were debating about whether we'd trimmed too much and I was basically talking myself out of it and seeing if he could put more downforce in the car," said the three-time Indy polesitter after averaging 232.164 mph – the fastest pole speed in 21 years.

"He was like, 'Man, don't worry it's going to be fine.' Then I saw that first lap I was like, 'Wow this is impressive,' so obviously a huge thanks to Honda too."

Simmons says he wasn't quite as cool as it looked.

"I was a nervous wreck until he came off Turn 4 on the last lap," he said. "I knew we had fast cars and I didn't want to change much because the conditions were better today and Scott did his thing."

Kanaan laughed at the role changing. "We were talking about what to do and I took the conservative approach and Dixie decided to go for it."

Dixon did exactly what it takes to win $100,000 and the respect of your peers.

"You trim out here to the max, man, and if you want to get rewards here you have to go for it," Dixon declared. "Chris was probably a little on the more 'go for it' side but it was good to have that encouragement."

Ed Carpenter threw a scare into Chip Ganassi's team by cranking off an opening lap of 232.180 mph in his Fuzzy's Vodka Chevrolet but couldn't sustain it and wound up second best with a 231.664 mph average.

"I heard his first lap and was shocked and I wasn't sure we could get that much out of it," said the two-time Indy polesitter who was fastest Saturday at 230.486 and went out last Sunday. "I'm not sure where Scott's speed came from but it's great being on the front row."

Alexander Rossi, who won last year's Indy 500 as a rookie, turned in an impressive run to cap an impressive weekend for Andretti Autosport as he claimed the outside of Row 1 with a 231.487 mph average in the NAPA Honda.

Teammates Takuma Sato and Fernando Alonso nailed down the fourth and fifth spots while J.R. Hildebrand snatched the sixth spot in Carpenter's other Chevy. Tony Kanaan was seventh, Marco Andretti eighth in the fourth Andretti entry and Will Power ninth in a dismal day for Team Penske.

Carpenter's little squad qualified second and sixth while Juan Pablo Montoya was 18th, Helio Castroneves wound up 19th, Josef Newgarden 22nd and defending Verizon IndyCar champion Simon Pagenaud 23rd.

Ryan Hunter-Reay led the second group with a 231.442 mph average (fourth fastest overall) and rookie Ed Jones dazzled the veterans with a 230.578 for Dale Coyne to snare the middle of Row 4 – next to veteran Oriol Servia.

Click here to view starting line-up in tradiional row format.