Alex Tagliani makes it two poles in a row by qualifying on Friday with a two-lap average speed of 215.186 mph. Dario Franchitti, Will Power, Takuma Sato, and Ed Carpenter round out the top five.

Tagliani was extremely proud of his team, and let Will Power know he’s not the only one who can go out at get the pole in consecutive races.  ”I told Will I was coming for him. That means tomorrow night I’ll draw the pole (for Race #2) ,right? It’s a tribute to how much effort and how much love the guys put in the car. I watched them work the last two weeks and they worked harder than when they brought the car to Indianapolis. That’s what a team does. We’re going to continue to work hard and bring fast cars to the track. Being fast on an oval is great, but I won’t be happy until I can stick it to Will and the Penske cars on a road course that’s my next goal.”

Power won’t be far behind, starting third.  ”It was a good run out there in the Verizon car. I was flat and on the white line for both laps. We have some work to do tonight in practice to find a good race trim, but we should be good. We get two shots at it tomorrow and I’m definitely ready to race.”

Other notables in the top 5 include Takuma Sato in fourth, who will make his highest oval start in his IndyCar career, and Ed Carpenter, driving part-time for Sarah Fisher Racing.

Sato remarked, ”It was fantastic, very exciting.  The car was balanced and really felt good.  After morning practice we were confident that we could have a good qualifying and after watching TK’s (Tony Kanaan’s) run I was even more confident.  Now we really need to concentrate on getting a good car for the race which is a very different car from qualifying.”

Carpenter, who’s been in the hunt before on shorter ovals, feels good about his chances. ”It’s been a good day for the Dollar General team. I feel good about our car. We seem to have good speed. I wasn’t sure where we were going to end up, but it seems like everyone ran quicker during qualifying than we did in practice. I’m happy with our qualifying effort, but I always want to be faster. Either way we have a good starting spot for tomorrow night, and I think we have something for them.”

Of course, while the order is set for the first race, the starting grid is anyone’s guess for the second.  This one’s going to be great to watch, don’t miss it!

Interview with Tagliani

Dario Qualifies 2nd

Power Qualifies 3rd