Castroneves expects little lapping

Helio Castroneves earned a front row starting position for Sunday's Iowa Corn Indy 250, while Sam Hornish Jr. was eighth-quickest in qualifying Saturday, putting Team Penske in position to walk off with a successful IndyCar Series debut at the new, seventh-eighths-mile Iowa Speedway.

Castroneves had the second-best lap among the 19-car field -- 182.272 mph -- in the No. 3 Team Penske Honda/Dallara, while Hornish recorded a lap of 181.506 mph, less than a tenth of a second off pole winner Scott Dixon's pace.

The primary question before Sunday's race is whether anyone will be able to pass. Castroneves noted that drivers struggled to find enough speed in the higher grooves to carry them around cars of similar speed that remained on the bottom of the track. The concern is the race will become a single-file -- albeit fast -- parade.

"Even to lap someone here is going to be hard," Castroneves said. "We're all pretty much running about the same speed, and if you move up into a higher groove, all you're doing is making each lap longer. It is going to be very hard to pass."

Hornish said advances in track position might be made in the pits, where teams should be able to gain ground with fast stops.

"We hoped to be a little faster today," Hornish said. "I'm not quite sure what happened, so we'll have to take a close look at the telemetry. I think it's going to be difficult to pass during the race, so we'll have to be quick in the pits to gain track position. I know that my crew is up to the challenge, so we'll just hope for the best."

Hornish is fifth in the IRL IndyCar Series standings after seven of 17 races this season. Castroneves is sixth, 21 points behind his teammate.

Sunday's race will begin at 1:15 EDT.

Press Release
Penske Racing