A late afternoon rain shower has handed Dario Franchitti the number one starting position for the SunTrust Indy Challenge on Saturday night at the Richmond International Raceway. 2007 IndyCar Series rules call for lining up the field by entrant points, which places Franchitti's Andretti Green Racing teammate, Tony Kanaan on the outside of row one.

“I'm glad we didn't qualify because I never got a chance to do a ‘Q' sim,” said Franchitti, who does not receive credit for winning the pole, and will also not receive the $10,000 pole award. “Earlier today, Marco (Andretti) was back in the transporter complaining that if we didn't qualify, then he would start 14th. I told him that if we did qualify, it would be me starting 14th.”

Franchitti had turned just the sixth quickest time overall during practice on Friday while Andretti was third fastest - surprisingly quick for a driver sitting 14th in the points and who has finished just two races this season.

“I'm really disappointed. The NYSE car unloaded quick and we've stayed there,” said Andretti. “I don't think we'll have any problems moving to the front because I'm confident in the race car. It's just disappointing that we didn't have a chance to go out and take a shot at the pole. We were easily one of the fastest three cars."

Panther Racing's Vitor Meira will start ninth thanks to the rained out qualifying. That is possibly as good as he could have expected in qualifying a back-up car with zero laps. The move to the back-up was necessitated by front suspension failure for the second weekend in a row.

“We're looking into the failure to see what happened. It's frustrating because we are very confident about this weekend,” said Meira. “I think this is a setback for us, but Panther is all about overcoming problems like this. I'm actually not worried about it. I would have liked to qualify just to get some laps in the back-up car. It's odd not knowing what you're going to have going into Turn One, but I've got enough confidence in (race engineer) Bill Pappas and (team owner) John Barnes to know the Delphi car is going to be great tomorrow.”

Chip Ganassi Racing will occupy the second row with Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon while the third row is a filled with Team Penske teammates Sam Hornish, Jr., and Helio Castroneves. The first row that does not feature teammates is row four where Scott Sharp will start alongside Danica Patrick.

Starting by entrant points is a new system for 2007 as previously IRL rules called for drivers to start by their practice times so long as everyone received equal practice time. The change was made because during times of potentially inclement weather, drivers were spending too much effort trying to get a quick lap, sometimes even working with their teammates to get an aerodynamic tow and neglecting race set-up practice.

The old system also benefitted multi-car teams to the detriment of smaller single car teams, causing some to question it's fairness.

Milka Duno will also start the race with a repaired car after her practice crash. She will need to quickly establish her car's handling abilities and find a consistently quick speed. Failing to do so, she will find her day ended early by IRL officials, a fate that befell her after just 60 laps at Iowa Speedway when she was unable to meet minimum speed requirements.

The IndyCar Series race will start at 7:30pm on Saturday evening. Weather forecasts call for high temperatures in the upper 80's (F) and a very slim chance of rain.

Richmond starting order
1. (27) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda
2. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda
3. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda
4. (10) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda
5. (6) Sam Hornish Jr., Dallara-Honda
6. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda
7. (8) Scott Sharp, Dallara-Honda
8. (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda
9. (4) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda
10. (2) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda
11. (17) Jeff Simmons, Dallara-Honda
12. (15) Buddy Rice, Dallara-Honda
13. (14) Darren Manning, Dallara-Honda
14. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda
15. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda
16. (5) Sarah Fisher, Dallara-Honda
17. (22) A.J. Foyt IV, Dallara-Honda
18. (55) Kosuke Matsuura, Dallara-Honda
19. (23) Milka Duno, Dallara-Honda

ORS / CAPSIS International