Franchitti on pole at Infineon

Sonoma, CA (Sports Network) - Dario Franchitti's first session time held up through the Firestone Fast Six shootout and he captured the pole for Sunday's Motorola Indy 300. The No.27 Andretti Green Racing driver circled the Infineon Raceway course in one minute, 16.7017 seconds.
The pole victory was Franchitti's second of the season and sixth of his IndyCar career.
"Track conditions changed a lot from this morning, but the car has been fast all weekend and we did it when it counted," said Franchitti.
Starting alongside Franchitti will be Danica Patrick who posted a second-best time of 1:17.1486. Patrick was the only driver to improve a time in the Firestone shootout.
"I was a little bit worried because...it didn't really feel very good and I made quite a few mistakes, but it was enough," said Patrick.
Tony Kanaan (1:17.1932) and Helio Castroneves (1:17.2608) will make up row two.
Franchitti was fastest in the first qualifying session and he led a group including Kanaan, Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Sam Hornish Jr. and Patrick.
Two races ago, Kanaan was virtually a bystander in the championship race. He was 111 points behind AGR teammate Franchitti and 77 points behind Dixon.
Worse, neither Franchitti nor Dixon had made a misstep all season and it looked as if the gap was too large to bridge.
The series traveled to the Michigan International Speedway and Kanaan collected his first win of the season. Better still, Dixon faltered with handling problems finishing 10th and Franchitti finished 13th after a frightening upside-down ride.
Two weeks ago Kanaan won his second consecutive race, at the Kentucky Speedway, while points leader Franchitti again struggled. Kanaan is now just 52 points behind Franchitti and 44 out of second place.
The race is set to drop the green flag on Sunday at 3 p.m. (et).