IRL: Castroneves on top at Milwaukee

West Allis, WI (Sports Network) - Helio Castroneves captured the pole for Sunday's ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt Indy 225 at the historic Milwaukee Mile. The No.3 Penske Racing Honda circled the flat one-mile oval in 21.3596 seconds (171.071 m.p.h.).
The pole win was Castroneves' fourth of the season and 21st of his IndyCar career.
"Another great effort from Team Penske," said Castroneves. "The car was awesome. We were able to manage the changing conditions and I'm extremely happy."
Starting on the front row with Castroneves will be points leader Scott Dixon who posted a time of 21.5873 seconds.
Tony Kanaan (21.6011) and Dan Wheldon (21.6089) will be in the second row.
Having just completed their most prestigious race of the year at Indianapolis, the IndyCar Series continues on, though with much less fanfare. At Milwaukee they will race in front of 45,000 fans instead of 450,000 and first prize will be worth in the neighborhood of $125,000 instead of $1,645,233 for the "500."
But in the championship race, a win on the flat oval of Milwaukee is worth the same as Dario Franchitti's historic win at Indy. The newly crowned Indianapolis 500 champion struggled in qualifying and will start 10th.
The win at Indy brought Franchitti (181 points) to within three points of Dixon (184), the series points leader. Dixon was the runner-up at Indianapolis. Between Dixon and Franchitti is Dixon's Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Wheldon just one point behind the leader. Castroneves (-13), Kanaan (-33) and defending series champion Sam Hornish Jr. (-33) are all within striking distance.
Kanaan won last year's race at Milwaukee crossing the finish line a solid 1.8276-seconds ahead of Hornish Jr.
The race is scheduled to drop the green flag at 4 p.m. (et).