FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Alex Tagliani has won the pole for the IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Tagliani turned a lap at 215.691 mph late in Friday’s qualifying session to bump Dario Franchitti from the top starting spot. Franchitti went 215.646 to qualify second.
Graham Rahal qualified third and Scott Dixon was fourth to give Honda the top four qualifying spots for Saturday night’s race. Spots two through four were claimed by drivers from Chip Ganassi Racing.
IndyCar series points leader Will Power qualified fifth as the highest Chevrolet.
The drivers were split headed into Friday night’s final practice session over the downforce limits set by IndyCar. IndyCar decreased the downforce to try to break up the pack racing, and half the drivers felt it made the cars too hard to drive.
