Franchitti takes pole at Chicagoland

Franchitti recorded a lap of 25.4931 seconds - 214.646 mph - around the 1.5-mile oval in the No. 27 Andretti Green Racing Honda/Dallara. That was enough to hold off Team Penske's Sam Hornish Jr., who was clocked at 214.492 mph.

"Right off I knew the car was fast, which is something I haven't had here at Chicago before," Franchitti said. "That's the biggest part of it here, having a solid car."

Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan took the second row, followed by Dixon's Ganassi teammate Dan Wheldon in the fifth position. Dixon said he wasn't concerned by the addition of four entries for the season finale, including Marty Roth, Milka Duno and P.J. Chesson.

"Most of those guys are going to be toward the back," Dixon said. "I don't think we've seen too many that are going to be at the front. As long as they keep it clean, it won't change the outcome."

Kanaan also remains in the points race at 39 off the pace, but needs the other drivers to encounter trouble to have a chance. Franchitti has crashed in the last four races, while Dixon has won four of the last seven and Kanaan three of the last four.

"Scott's been a big threat," Franchitti said. "You can never count him out. The usual suspects can never be counted out. I made the mistake of counting out TK earlier this year. He didn't say anything, but he came back and won a couple of races. Scott is as tough as any of them."

Sunday's race begins at 4 p.m. ET.

Pos  Driver             Speed
 1.  Dario Franchitti   214.646
 2.  Sam Hornish Jr     214.492
 3.  Helio Castroneves  214.380
 4.  Tony Kanaan        214.310
 5.  Dan Wheldon        214.246
 6.  Scott Dixon        214.217
 7.  Danica Patrick     213.813
 8.  Darren Manning     213.001
 9.  Tomas Scheckter    212.922
10.  Marco Andretti     212.893
11.  Scott Sharp        212.840
12.  Ryan Hunter-Reay   212.450
13.  Hideki Mutoh       212.234
14.  Ed Carpenter       211.849
15.  Vitor Meira        211.537
16.  Kosuke Matsuura    211.450
17.  Sarah Fisher       211.116
18.  A.J. Foyt IV       210.924
19.  Buddy Rice         210.798
20.  P.J. Chesson       209.686
21.  Marty Roth         209.409
22.  Milka Duno         206.006