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Associated Press 17y

Kanaan hoping to continue surge at Kentucky 300

SPARTA, Ky. -- Tony Kanaan thinks he can make the chase for
the IndyCar Series points title a three-driver race and will get a
chance to prove it Saturday during the Meijer Kentucky 300.

Kanaan grabbed the pole with a blistering qualifying speed of
218.086 mph, well ahead of teammate and series points leader Dario
Franchitti, who qualified second with at 216.810.

"We had a good car, it's a lot quicker than I expected,"
Kanaan said of his second pole of the season and eighth of his
career. "I think we came out with good momentum out of Michigan."

Kanaan won last week's Michigan 400, and will need a few more
wins if he wants to catch Franchitti and Scott Dixon. Kanaan enters
the final quarter of the season trailing Franchitti by 81 points
and second-place Dixon by 57 points.

"I kind of like to be the underdog right now," said Kanaan,
the 2004 series champion. "I like people focused on Dario and
Dixon. I know how to do it. I've done it before, but it's going to
be hard. Right now, we're on the right track."

Franchitti said getting back on the track allowed him to relax
after a harrowing crash at Michigan. He was battling Dan Wheldon
down the backstretch on lap 144 when their wheels touched.
Franchitti's car flipped over Wheldon's and then landed upside
down, leaving Franchitti hanging by his seat belt.

Though he escaped unharmed, Franchitti said he was a bit
apprehensive getting back into his car during Friday's practice.
But he looked at ease running alongside Wheldon for a portion of
the session and said he has no worries if he finds himself next to
Wheldon during the race.

"It's just nice to get back to the office to make sure I felt
the same way about what I was doing," Franchitti said.

Scott Sharp, who won at Kentucky in 2005, was third. Dixon
qualified fourth.

"Our speed was all over the map today, and it doesn't seem we
really changed much on the car," Dixon said. "It just seems to go
faster or slower on its own. Hopefully traffic this weekend will be
pretty decent and we can still get through."

Sam Hornish Jr. qualified seventh, with Danica Patrick 11th.

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HELIO STAYING: While Team Penske teammate Sam Hornish Jr.
remains coy about whether he plans on jumping from IndyCar to
NASCAR next year, Helio Castroneves isn't going anywhere.

"I've got too many goals I want to accomplish," Castroneves
said.

Namely, winning the IndyCar Series title, which he admits won't
happen this year. Castroneves enters the Kentucky 300 sixth in
points, well behind leader Dario Franchitti.

"I'd say this championship for me has been very weird," he
said. "Somehow weird things are happening during the race. If it's
not something mechanical, then it's something on the set up where
all of a sudden the car goes off. And if it's not that, it's some
stupid guy doing some crazy thing out there like 'Come on, how long
you've been racing."

When Castroneves is on the track by himself, there has rarely
been anyone better. His six poles this season equal the series
record with three races to go. He'll start 13th on Saturday, the
first time in 30 races he won't start in the Top 10.

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SATURDAY NIGHT'S ALL RIGHT: The race will be held at twilight
for the first time, with the green flag set to drop at 6:30 p.m.

The decision to move the race to the evening will serve as a
boon for the track -- which expects to get at least 50,000 for the
race, about 15,000 more than last year -- and a learning process for
the drivers.

Times during qualifying were significantly slower than practice
times in the afternoon, with only polesitter Kanaan's car seemingly
impervious to the cooler conditions.

"I think it's going to be a little more comfortable," Dan
Wheldon said. "And we've done it enough this year that I think the
cars will be ready and obviously, it'll be better physically."

Record temperatures swept across the Ohio Valley during the
week, though the heat is expected to subside somewhat by race time.
Forecasters are calling for a temperature of 89 degrees when the
green flag drops.

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NO STUNT DOUBLE FOR MUNTER: It took awhile, but Leilani Munter
has landed a starring role.

The former Hollywood stunt double -- she did stunts for Catherine
Zeta-Jones in the movie "Traffic" -- qualified fifth for her first
start in the Indy Pro Series Kentucky 100 while racing for Sam
Schmidt Motorsports.

The self-described "adrenaline junkie" said there are
similarities between her old job and her new one.

"Every time I come out here, I know I can't be nervous, I can't
be like 'Take it easy because you'll be here next week," said
Munter, who is auditioning in Saturday's race and the season-ending
event in Chicago. "I don't know if I will be back, so I've got to
make the most of it."

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