Castroneves ends pole drought at Nashville track where he has never led a lap

Helio Castroneves outpaced Danica Patrick at the Nashville Superspeedway on Friday to claim pole position for Saturday's Firestone Indy 200.

Castroneves, who has grabbed more poles than any other driver in IndyCar Series history averaged 204.519 mph (329.141 kph) over four laps in qualifying to end something of a drought at the front of the grid. The Brazilian hadn't captured a pole position in qualifying this year, although he did start on the pole in Japan with positions set by points.

Castroneves series record of poles is now 24 for his career with at least one in seven consecutive seasons. That is a dramatic change from last week when a broken throttle cable forced him to start last at Watkins Glen.

Castroneves summed up the one-week swing as "pretty awesome."

"I have to thank my entire team," he said. "They've been working extremely well to put that car up there. I'm just so glad we're able to put all the puzzles together and able to finally figure out about this qualifying scenario. The car, it's incredible. It's exciting, and it's great momentum for tomorrow's race."

Castroneves also gave Team Penske its first pole at Nashville and 37th in the IndyCar Series.

Patrick thought she was a chance for her fourth career pole and first since 2005 at Chicago with an average speed of 203.335 mph (327.236 kph). She said she was nervous waiting to see if her time would stand up once the Penske drivers hit the track. She knew it wouldn't once she saw Castroneves' first lap.

"The only thing that would've made me be on the pole is if he didn't finish his qualifying at all," she said.

Patrick will start on the first row for the ninth time in her career and the second time this season. She started on the front row at Homestead to start the season.

Castroneves said he didn't know if the clouds helped him pick up some extra speed. He doesn't care, either.

"To have something turn to me a little bit, you know, I'm extremely happy for that. I'm also going to enjoy the moment," he said.

Hideki Mutoh will start a career-best third. Ryan Hunter-Reay, who won last week at Watkins Glen, looked as though he might edge Patrick for second until losing speed on his fourth and final lap. He will start fourth for his best start on an oval.

Scott Dixon, who leads Castroneves by 48 points in the series title race, has won the past two races on this 1.33-mile (2.14-kilometer), concrete oval.

He came in looking for his second straight pole on this track and his fifth this year. He turned in the fastest speeds in the morning practice, reaching 204.625. In qualifying, he came out second and set the early pace with a four-lap average of 203.233 mph. That wasn't good enough to keep him on the pole, but he will start fifth in his ninth straight start in the top five.

"Obviously, the draw hurt us a bit going out second, but that's the way it goes sometimes," Dixon said. "We would have liked to have gotten the Energizer car closer to the top of the grid, but we should be fine for the race."