INDY RACING LEAGUE Kanaan snaps his pole drought

He has the top spot for the IRL race in Kansas City.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -- Tony Kanaan will start his next IndyCar Series race where he finished the last one. And for the first time in 16 races, the car on the pole won't be a red one.
Kanaan, coming off a victory last week at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, broke a 29-race pole drought Saturday at Kansas Speedway. His last previous pole was for the 2005 Indianapolis 500.
He turned in a quick lap of 214.118 mph on the 1.5-mile tri-oval, edging Sam Hornish Jr. in qualifying for today's Kansas Lottery Indy 300.
"A lot of people brought up the momentum we've had since Japan," said Kanaan, who won here in 2005 and earned his seventh career pole Saturday. "But this has been my strongest season since 2004, when I won the championship, as far as the first three races."
Wheldon leads
Kanaan is three points behind leader Dan Wheldon, who will start fourth, in the season standings. His pole for Andretti Green Racing, which placed four drivers in the top 10 starting positions, broke a streak of 15 races where the pole went to Marlboro Team Penske or Target Chip Ganassi Racing.
Hornish, who won here in 2006 on his way to the IndyCar Series title, had a quick lap of 213.992 mph.
"We started second here last year and we won the race," Hornish said. "Maybe this is a good omen. But anyone in the top 10 can work their way through the traffic if you have a good handling car."
Hornish's Penske teammate, Helio Castroneves, qualified third at 213.817 mph. He was followed in the top 10 by Wheldon, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Vitor Meira, and Andretti Green drivers Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick.
"We're going to have to do some work and make sure we're fast enough in the race," said Wheldon, who ran just behind Castroneves at 213.812 mph. "I think we thought we'd be a little bit better than what we were. We definitely have the ability to be very quick. We haven't got it right just yet."
Unhappy driver
Patrick, who won her first career pole at Kansas Speedway in 2005, wasn't happy with her starting spot.
"It was a hell of a lot worse than what I thought," Patrick said. "I honestly thought that I was maybe going to be pole. My qualifying simulation this morning was the same as Tony's, for the most part.
"I don't know what happened," she said. "If I knew, I could say, 'I knew what was going on and I just decided to drive around in fourth gear.' There's no answer, and that's why I'm so mad."