Richmond: Honda qualifying report

Kanaan Bounces Back To Take Richmond Pole

After crashing while challenging for the lead in the final laps last weekend at Iowa Speedway, Tony Kanaan rebounded in the best way possible Friday night at Richmond International Raceway, qualifying on the pole for Saturday night's SunTrust Indy Challenge. Kanaan edged teammate Marco Andretti to give Andretti Green Racing the seventh 1-2 IndyCar Series qualifying effort in team history.

Rookie Graham Rahal, already a winner this year at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, continues to show strong form on the short tracks, qualifying third tonight in addition to a second-place qualifying run last month at Milwaukee. Series points leader Scott Dixon will start fourth, with Buddy Rice rounding out the top five in his best qualifying performance of the season for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Saturday night's 300-lap event starts at 8 p.m. EDT, with live television coverage on ESPN.

Tony Kanaan (#11 7-Eleven Andretti Green Racing Honda) pole qualifier, 2nd pole of 2008, 10th career IndyCar pole: "I got an advantage by going last among my teammates. Marco [Andretti] and I started out with the same setup, and after his run we made one final change to my car, and that made all the difference. So, I have to thank my teammate and my team for that. It felt good to turn things around after my mistake last weekend [in the race] at Iowa. That was probably the hardest hit of my life. This is a place you either love or hate. If your car is working well, you love it, but if not it can be a very long, difficult race. The old distance [250 laps] was hard; 300 laps tomorrow night will be even tougher!"

-credit: honda racing