By JOHN MARSHALL
AP Sports Writer
KANSAS CITY, Kansas −Ryan Briscoe snatched pole Friday for the IRL event at Kansas Speedway, preventing his teammate Will Power taking a record-tying fourth straight pole position.
Power has been the driver to beat on the IndyCar Series this season, winning two of four races, earning three consecutive poles, but Briscoe stole back some of the limelight from his Team Penske teammate.
“Jealous I am and I'm ready to start getting my wins as well,'' Briscoe said.
The Australian earned his ninth career IndyCar pole. He'll start on the front row Saturday with defending Kansas champion Scott Dixon in the 480-kilometer (300-mile) oval race.
Heavy rain and hail washed out the first practice session and pushed back the second, leaving drivers with an hour of preparation time before qualifying.
Briscoe was good during the practice session, running a half-second slower than Dixon for the second-best time, and only made a slight adjustment before qualifying on a track that seemed to gain more grip throughout the afternoon.
The 26th of 27 qualifiers, Briscoe gained just enough speed to race to his first pole of the season.
“The car was fast right out of the truck,'' said Briscoe, who had struggled in qualifying during previous trips to Kansas. “We trimmed out a little bit more between practice and qualifying and it went according to plan.''
Defending IndyCar series champ Dario Franchitti will start on the second row with Hideki Mutoh, who bumped up after Dan Wheldon was sent to the back of the field along with Marco Andretti for driving under the white line. Power, the series points leader, qualified seventh.
Dixon has a good history at Kansas, winning last year, finishing no worse than four the previous three. The Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver made some minor changes during practice to gain speed during practice.
But changes in the hour-hour window before qualifying didn't work; Dixon ended up losing speed instead of gaining it.
“The car just didn't have the speed it had earlier on,'' he said. ``Briscoe seemed to stay consistent and fast. Hopefully, we can find a little bit of that tonight and carry it on to tomorrow.''
Once the race starts, there's a decent chance a Team Penske or Target Chip Ganassi driver will end up taking the checkers.
Their drivers have shared the past 13 oval races, dating to Tony Kanaan's win for Andretti Autosport at Richmond in 2008, and the past three Kansas champions have come from those teams.
“On the ovals, it's all about the little things, the fine tuning,'' Briscoe said. “With Penske and Ganassi's experience ... we haven't perfected the art, but it's close.''
Saturday's race marks the first oval after four on street and road courses to start the season. It's also the last race before the pressure and chaos of the Indianapolis 500.
Kansas has a record 27 cars in the field, including several oval newcomers, so the drivers can get a sense it what it's going to be like on the crowded bricks of Indianapolis.
“Totally different mindset for me, but it is nice to get out on the ovals and kind feel out a couple of the other new drivers and how they're getting on because traffic is going to be pretty bad at Indy as well,'' Dixon said.
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