Danica Patrick has another first on her short Indy Racing League résumé.
The 23-year-old rookie won her first IRL pole Saturday at Kansas Speedway, becoming the second woman to take the top spot.
Patrick, the first woman to lead a lap at the Indianapolis 500, turned in a quick lap of 214.688 mph on her second try around the 1 1/2-mile tri-oval in Kansas City, Kan., in qualifying for today’s Argent Mortgage Indy 300. Sarah Fisher was the first female polesitter, starting first at a race in 2002 in Kentucky.
With two teammates qualifying second and third, Patrick’s chances of earning her first IRL victory are even better.
“It’s very satisfying,” said Patrick, who edged out Rahal Letterman teammate Buddy Rice for the pole. “I’m very proud of how hard this team has worked, how hard I’ve worked.”
Patrick, who will be making her eighth career start, was fastest in her morning practice session, too. Her pole-winning time drew a big cheer from the capacity crowd waiting for the start of a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race.
Her best previous start was second at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan in April.
“This is not untouched territory,” Patrick said. “What’s going to make the difference is going out tomorrow and staying up there and competing with my teammates who did such a great job last year.”
In May, Patrick finished fourth at the Indianapolis 500, the best finish by a woman in the 89-year history of the race, and her second fourth in the IRL series.
“I know a lot of this started because I’m a chick in a race car,” Patrick said. “Now it’s turning into, ‘Look what this rookie can do.”‘
Rice, last year’s race champion, will start on the outside front after qualifying at 214.65 mph. Vitor Meira was third at 214.548 mph, followed in the top 10 by Tomas Scheckter, Darren Manning, Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Scott Sharp and Sam Hornish Jr.
This year’s Indy 500 winner and the current points leader, Dan Wheldon, qualified 13th.
“The car has been very slow since we rolled it off the truck, and we really don’t know why,” said Wheldon, who has won four of seven events this year. “We just don’t have an answer for it.
“Right now, I’ve got a lot of people in front of me that are going to be difficult to beat.”
Helio Castroneves, who won last week in Richmond, Va., qualified 14th.
Last year, Rice won the pole and held off Meira by .0051 seconds to win the second-closest race in IRL history.
It was the first 1-2-3 qualifying by one team since Scheckter, Rice and Eddie Cheever did it at Michigan in 2002 for Eddie Cheever Red Bull Racing.
“We’ll just have to see,” Rice said. “But all three cars qualified strongly, they’ve been strong all day, and there’s no reason we shouldn’t all three be running up front and going for a finish like last year.”
NASCAR: Todd Bodine withstood a series of late restarts, then pulled away from the pack in a 3-lap shootout to win the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 truck race at Kansas Speedway.
It was the first victory of the season and third in the series for Bodine, a former Winston and Nextel Cup driver who also owns 15 Busch series wins. It was also the first win for Toyota this year, breaking Chevrolet’s five-race streak. Rookie Todd Kluever won a battle with David Reutimann to take second.
Formula One: Points leader Fernando Alonso of Spain won the pole position for the French Grand Prix in Magny Cours.
All the teams were back on the track, two weeks after 14 cars boycotted the U.S. Grand Prix over concerns about tire safety.
