toledoblade.com --

INDIANAPOLIS - With less than 15 minutes left in yesterday's six-hour Pole Day qualifying session for the Indianapolis 500, two-time champion Helio Castroneves was fidgeting and bouncing around in his pit area like a nervous fighter about to enter the ring.

Castroneves, who had already posted the fourth-fastest qualifying time earlier in the day, opted to roll the dice and make a final run at wrestling the pole away from Tony Kanaan. That meant withdrawing his guaranteed starting spot, and running the risk of losing a place in the field altogether.

The gambit did not hit the jackpot for Castroneves, as the best Castroneves could do was 226.927 mph, but that just dropped him one position in the grid, to fifth.

Castroneves displayed the play-to-win mindset that has always dominated Marlboro Penske Racing's approach to the Indy 500.

"In a situation like that, I'm going to go for it," Castroneves said. "It's one of those decisions - yes, it's a gamble - but it's one worth taking. We thought we took the best shot we could at winning the pole, and we just lost one spot. I wouldn't be sleeping too well tonight if I had not taken that risk."

Kanaan, last year's Indy Racing League champion, put up a 227.566 mph qualifying run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway early in the day, and it held up to give him the pole.

Sam Hornish Jr., Castroneves' Penske teammate, had qualified 10th on his first run, but also rolled the dice and withdrew that time. He jumped to the second starting position in the middle of the front row with a run of 227.273 mph.

"After that first run, we kind of sat back and watched the first bunch of qualifying go by," Hornish said. "We only needed a little more speed to move up, and we felt like we had it. We had a lot to gain, and there was a lot of reward that we had to get, and not much as far as risk."

Hornish was the day's biggest winner from the group of drivers who chose to gamble.

"We knew that it might not be the optimum conditions and we might not be able to make a pole run, but we felt we could go out there and qualify ourselves up quite a bit. We knew we had a good car," Hornish said.

Rookie Danica Patrick, who had been one of the two fastest drivers in practice leading up to qualifying and had put up the day's best lap at 229.880 mph in practice, qualified fourth, the best ever for a woman in the Indy 500 field.

Patrick, who became just the fourth woman to qualify for the Indy 500, made a minor mistake in her qualifying run while coming out of a turn, and that possibly cost her the pole.

"It just got loose a little bit and almost spun, and it was frustrating for me because I really wanted to be on the pole," Patrick said. "But I think it's important to keep in perspective at what point I'm at. This is only my fifth IndyCar Series race. I'm still a rookie, and I drove my butt off out there. I drive for an awesome team and I have solid sponsors, so why am I mad?"

Patrick was pushing Rahal Letterman team owner Bobby Rahal for a second qualifying run, but after she made a couple of practice laps in between qualifying sessions and did not match her earlier time, Rahal opted to stay fourth in the grid.

"I was pretty adamant about going back out for a second qualifying attempt," Patrick said, "but thank goodness Bobby was able to be the voice of reason.

"If we could consistently run laps fast enough in practice we could take another shot at the front row. Looking back now, I am so glad we didn't throw this time away."

Kanaan, who made his pole-winning qualifying run very early in the day, had to sweat it out for almost six hours while the rest of the field took shots at knocking him off the pole. When the day ended, Kanann was in the cockpit of his car ready to make a second run, if someone had bumped him off the pole.

"I had to wait all day, and that was really nerve-wracking for us," Kanaan said. "That last 45 minutes, especially, it was tough.

"Winning the pole here is very difficult to do, so I feel good about it. And I feel good that we'll be starting the race out front. That tells me we had a fast car today, and now we can work on making it faster."

Scott Sharp, making the first run of the day, qualified third on the outside of the front row, while Dario Franchitti took the sixth spot in the grid by making the maximum three qualifying runs.

Dan Wheldon, the winner of three of the first four IndyCar Series races this season, was a disappointing 16th in the qualifying.

Positions one through 22 in the Indy 500 starting grid were set yesterday, with an additional round of qualifying taking place Saturday to determine positions 23-33 in the field. Sunday's Bump Day offers the final opportunity for drivers to gain a starting position by bumping a slower entrant from the field.

Contact Matt Market at: mmarkey@theblade.com or 419-724-6510.

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