Scott Dixon posted a quick lap of 1 minute, 8.1671 seconds in the Firestone Fast Six to earn his first PEAK Performance Pole Award presented by AutoZone of the season.Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe will start on the front row for the second time this season, and IZOD IndyCar Series championship points leader Dario Franchitti will start third in the No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car.Will Power, who earned five of the six road/street course pole positions coming into the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, qualified fourth in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car.Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport and Graham Rahal of Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing will start on Row 3 in the 85-lap race on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn course.DAY 2 NOTEBOOK:The Trueman family, owners of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the past three decades, have been named grand marshals of the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.Barbara Trueman, family matriarch, her daughter, Michelle Trueman Gajoch, president of the facility from 1989 to 2011, and daughter Megan Cindric, will be present during the weekend. Celebrating its 50th season, Mid-Ohio was sold to Kim Green and Kevin Savoree through Green Savoree Mid-Ohio, LLC earlier this year."This racetrack has been a big part of our family for the past 30 years," said Trueman Gajoch, "We're honored that Kim and Kevin invited us to return to the track as grand marshals. I'm really looking forward to seeing some of the staff, sponsors and others in the paddock I've worked with for a long time."Red Roof Inn founder and TrueSports Racing owner Jim Trueman invested millions into the track after purchasing it to modernize the facility."The Trueman family transformed Mid-Ohio from a popular car club destination to one of the premier road courses in the country. The capital improvements along with their long standing relationships with fans, the community and the sponsors has laid the foundation for decades of continued success," said Craig Rust, president of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.***It's appropriate that Helio Castroneves' 199th start for Team Penske occurs at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, where he's played a role in the team's success: victories in 2000 and 2001 highlighting five podium finishes in eight starts, plus pole starts in 2007 and '08.Overall, Team Penske has has seven victories in 26 Indy car races at the natural-terrain circuit since 1980 (including 1992-95 when Emerson Fittipaldi and Al Unser Jr. each won two races in a row).  A Team Penske driver has started from the pole in each of the four IZOD IndyCar Series races (Will Power in 2010 and Ryan Brisoce in '09 in addition to Castroneves).Following his season-high runner-up finish to Power on the City Centre Airport circuit, which bumped him three positions in the championship standings to ninth, Castroneves is aiming for another top finish (even earning a victory for the 12th consecutive season)."We found some stuff in the car that we didn't have in the past," Castroneves said of the Edmonton Indy result. "I believe that helps a lot to be more consistent, especially with the braking points like Edmonton. So in the race I was able to be consistent, to be like I've always been."For the first time, a little bit of a double-car restart played in my favor. I've been the one that's in the middle or hit the car. I guess those are the factors that helped to put me right in front. Once you're in front, it was like the good old days."In 2009, Graham Rahal's helmet design reflected his father's, Bobby Rahal, for his first IZOD IndyCar Series race at Mid-Ohio. The tradition continues as Rahal, a native of New Albany, Ohio, represents the family history at his hometown track."It's such a fantastic track and has a lot of history with our family," Rahal said. "We tested here on July 28th and we improved the No. 38 Service Central car quite a lot, which I think is going to work to our advantage. It's a big weekend for NTB and Service Central, so I hope we can make everyone proud and have a great result."***    Sam Schmidt has been involved with calling races for his Firestone Indy Lights stable over the years, but "Lights is a no-brainer; there aren't pit stops."    He's also been involved with calling races of Indianapolis 500 drivers for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, most recently Townsend Bell.    This weekend, and for four other IZOD IndyCar Series races this season, the former Indy car driver will wear the tag of race strategist for the No. 17 entry. He says it will be a collaborative effort -- "no one person will make the decisions; it will be a team decision" - and it's certainly an area he enjoys.    "Eighty percent of what you do there is pretty straight forward and determined in advance, but situations like we had at Edmonton -- where we lost the front wing on the first lap -- now all of a sudden you have to go to an alternate strategy and that's when the brain cells really start firing off," Schmidt said. "That's when you have be calm, when you have to consider all the options.    "This is what really intrigues me about participating at this level."    The No. 17 SnowBall Express AFS/SSM car will be driven by Martin Plowman, making his IZOD IndyCar Series debut, in the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. Plowman also will compete at Infineon Raceway on Aug. 28 and in the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix on Labor Day weekend.    Wade Cunningham, the 2005 Firestone Indy Lights champion, returns to the car for the race at Kentucky Speedway on Oct. 2 and in the Oct. 16 IZOD INDYCAR World Championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Cunningham made his IZOD IndyCar Series debut in the doubleheader at Texas Motor Speedway in June.    A second Sam Schmidt Motorsports car is not entered for the races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway or Twin Ring Motegi, but Schmidt and team manager Rob Edwards chose to bring on board personnel to support the program the remainder of the season and for potentially fielding a full-season two-car team in 2012. Sam Schmidt Motorsports on Aug. 5 announced it had aligned with Honda for the 2012 engine program.    Edwards is the race strategist for the No. 77 Bowers & Wilkins car driven by Alex Tagliani and engineered by Nick Snyder.    Ben Bretzman, an engineer who has worked with Honda Performance Development in the American Le Mans Series and in stock cars, has been added as the lead engineer on the No. 17 entry. AFS Racing owner Gary Petersen also will be on the pit lane stand during races.***    Simon Pagenaud filled in for the injured Ana Beatriz in the second round of the IZOD IndyCar Series at Barber Motorsports Park in April. Called to duty again by Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, he had much less time to prepare at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.    Pagenaud will qualify the No. 22 RollCoater car for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio after Justin Wilson was taken to Mansfield MedCentral where he was diagnosed with an anterior compression fracture of the fifth thoracic vertebra. Wilson's car ran through the grass entering Turn 1 on the 2.558-mile, 13-turn circuit in the morning practice and made slight contact with a few cones.    "Simon would be a turnkey fit for us to be able to do on short notice," team co-owner Dennis Reinbold said. "He was fantastic at Barber, a joy to work with so if you have to look at it and say, 'What's a good backup plan?' this is a good backup plan. The car should be somewhat familiar with him and he should be pretty quick."    Pagenaud advanced from 23rd on the starting grid to finish eighth at the natural-terrain circuit in Alabama in his IZOD IndyCar Series debut. Beatriz had fractured her wrist in the season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla.    Pagenaud tested at Mid-Ohio on July 28 in the No. 77 Sam Schmidt Motorsports car with an eye on competing full time in the 2012 season.    Medical update from Dr. Michael Olinger: Justin Wilson He will be kept overnight at MedCentral Mansfield and will be transported to Indianapolis tomorrow to meet with Dr. Terry Trammell, INDYCAR's medical consultant.PEAK PERFORMANCE POLE QUALIFYING NOTES:

·         This is Scott Dixon's first PEAK Performance Pole Award of 2011. Dixon has qualified in the Firestone Fast Six in the last five years at Mid-Ohio and has never been worse than fifth at the track.·         This is Dixon's first pole position since Motegi 2009, 29 races ago.·         Ryan Briscoe qualified second. It is his second front row start of 2011. He has never qualified outside the top-10 here at Mid-Ohio.·         Defending race winner Dario Franchitti, qualified third.·         Will Power, last year's pole sitter qualified fourth.·         Ryan Hunter-Reay qualified fifth. It is the second straight year he has qualified in the top-five here at Mid-Ohio·         James Hinchcliffe qualified seventh, matching his season-best performance and his best on a road/street course.·         Charlie Kimball qualified 10th. It is his best qualifiying result in the IZOD IndyCar Series. He drew 8th at Texas2.PEAK PERFORMANCE POLE QUALIFYING QUOTES:

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, PEAK Performance Pole Award winner): "The race is what pays the points and we've put ourselves in a good situation by winning the pole. We all thought it was going to rain, so everyone was pushing as hard as possible early on in the session. It was a hell of a workout during the session. I'm a little red right now. (Are you glad it didn't rain?): "It was the same for everybody and I'm not sure how our car would have worked in the wet compared to the others. I think we would have been decent, but we got the pole and that's what counts today. I'm happy for Team Target. They've worked hard all season and we haven't had the luck that we've needed. Dario (Franchitti) has been stealing all the fame here. It's nice to get a pole."RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Penske Truck Rental): "It was a very hard-fought battle out there. This is a very physical track and it takes its toll on you. The track kept improving during qualifying and you really needed to be out there to take advantage of it. We're feeling good starting on the front row here. The Penske Truck Rental car has been fast and we can definitely win from there. Last time we started second here, we won the race in 2008, so hopefully we can have another result like that tomorrow."WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske): "It was a good, solid result for the Verizon car, starting in the first two rows is definitely a place we can win from. Really, we're right where we need to be. We gave it everything we had, but just didn't quite have the car for pole today. I feel pretty good about it, though. What we have to do is be smart tomorrow, stay out of trouble and it should be a good day."ORIOL SERVIA (No. 2 Telemundo Newman/Haas Racing): "I'm a little confused with our performance because the Telemundo car felt good and I felt good. I thought I was pushing it and not making mistakes but the lap time was just not coming. I really don't know what to say; the car wasn't bad. It's the strangest thing to have the worst qualifying of the year when the car feels good. The setup is not bad because obviously James is running well. Luckily I have a great strategist calling my race. The car is not bad, we just missed on our qualifying run somehow. Nothing is lost but it's disappointing to start 20th."JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 06 Sprott Newman/Haas Racing): "Again, we were just on the outside looking in (to get into the Firestone Fast Six) but for a rookie it's not a bad place to be. We were one of the few guys that didn't test here last week so we came in having to learn real quick and a big thanks has to go to Oriol and everyone on the Telemundo car because they did come test and obviously we started with that setup and the car was good right away in Friday's practice. And it was good this morning so we knew we were going to be relatively competitive. We just put together a good Lap in Round 1 and were pretty competitive in Round 2 as well. I think it (being one of few that didn't test last week here) is probably more a mental thing than anything. It's just knowing that everybody else was here pounding around. When you come here for the race, the conditions are different; there are eight different kinds of rubber on the track from the different series so its very different conditions from the test day but its just me wanting to get to know the place in the Indy car and luckily we managed to get that done pretty quick in the first session."HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Penske Truck Rental): "It's certainly a disappointing qualifying result. It's been tough to get a handle on the set-up of the Penske Truck Rental car this weekend. The car was really loose throughout the session and we just couldn't find the grip we needed to make it to the next round of qualifying. We will continue to work on the car and make sure we are ready for the race tomorrow."MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 26 Team Venom Energy): "We tried to take the Venom car closer to Ryan's (Hunter-Reay) setup but it just didn't work for us today. We were in and out of the top six in our group but didn't have what we needed in the end. Obviously 19th is not where we want to be starting tomorrow but we'll do what we can to make our way through the field."DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Team GoDaddy): "Like Edmonton, we didn't have the strongest qualifying session. But we had a strong finish so I have confidence we can do the same here at Mid-Ohio with the GoDaddy.com car."RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 Team DHL/Circle K/Sun Drop Citrus Soda): "I'm disappointed with the fifth place result.  We really got aggressive with the front end of the car today.  I just couldn't keep the rear end under me in the corners. I almost lost a couple of times, but, hey, it's qualifying and we can still get to the front in the race.  We can move our way up in the race.  We will improve the car in the morning practice.   I thought I could put together a good lap and we could have been second or third on the grid.  I couldn't attack through the corners as I would have liked.  I love driving here.  This place is a lot of fun.  We got our money's worth today with three rounds of qualifying.  I believe we'll have a car to put the Team DHL/Circle K/Sun Drop machine in the winner's circle."MIKE CONWAY (No. 27 @FollowAndretti):"It was a difficult day for us today.  We thought we had improved the car from the morning practice session.  But we couldn't get the pace we needed to transfer out of the first round of qualifying.  I was able to jump up the charts to third several times in that round.  But we had a problem in the last couple of laps.  We were just a tenth out of transferring to the second round.  You just can't afford to miss a beat with the competition level in the IZOD IndyCar Series.  We'll work on making a good race car for Sunday's event.  We did that at Edmonton in the last race."ED CARPENTER (No. 67 Dollar General Sarah Fisher Racing): "It's been a really disappointing day. This is not how we felt it was going to go, especially after testing here. We closed the gap a little bit during this morning's practice session, but now after qualifying we're further behind than we've been all weekend. This is definitely not the direction we want to be going. We're going to have to figure out a way to do better tomorrow."TAKUMA SATO (No. 5 KV Racing Technology - Lotus): "I am extremely disappointed.  Although I didn't get to run yesterday, the test session this morning went well and I was reasonably happy with the balance, but we knew we needed more speed for qualifying.   It was a tough qualifying session.  The car was sliding a lot and inconsistent.  We are going to have to work hard, review all the data and hopefully find some more speed for tomorrow."       E.J. VISO (No. 59 PDVSA - KV Racing Technology - Lotus): "Today's qualifying did not reflect the rhythm or the momentum we had in the practice sessions.  I believe we still have some work to do with the red tires on road courses.   We have been trying to address the red tire situation and every time we are getting closer to the solution.  However, there is still a little bit missing that we need to figure out in order to be up there in qualifying."TONY KANAAN (No. 82 GEICO - KV Racing Technology - Lotus_: "The car was extremely difficult to drive during the qualifying session.  It was handling a lot different than in our last practice session.   It's a shame...coming from the back tomorrow will not be easy, but we'll do our best to put the GEICO - KVRT - Lotus up front and try to maintain our championship position."JR HILDEBRAND (No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing): "It definitely stings to be so close (to advancing to the second round) and I think because the Firestone Indy Lights cars aren't here that every time we go out we have to pretty much clean up the rubber, so the times drop down really quickly on the last couple laps of the session. I think we had the car to advance, but I definitely didn't maximize a few corners, and around a place like this less than a tenth would have gotten us into the Top 12, and so that's what's personally frustrating. The National Guard Panther guys have done an awesome job all weekend to keep us in the window, and starting 13th and on the inside isn't going to be all bad, and we've done a good job this year of making up a lot of positions on these types of tracks. So tomorrow we've just got to keep our nose clean and keep doing what we've been doing."CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 Levemir and NovoLog FlexPen): "I'm really happy for the whole Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing team. The No. 83 Levemir and NovoLog FlexPen car has been fast all day and all weekend. It was nice to be able to go out and get the lap time in qualifying and end up in the top-10. It was still a little disappointing because a couple of tenths could have put us seventh  and we had a lap going and there was some dirt on the track so we lost the time. I know that the car is good and if we can hold a spot in the top-10 during the race we'll be in good shape."SUNDAY'S SCHEDULE9:25 - 9:55 a.m. - IZOD IndyCar Series warmup2 p.m. - Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio pre-race2:50 p.m. - Honda Indy 200 (85 laps), VERSUS (Live). ***The next IZOD IndyCar Series event is the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on Aug. 7 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The race will be televised live at 2 p.m. (ET) by VERSUS and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network. The next Firestone Indy Lights race is Grand Prix of Trois Rivieres on Aug. 7 at the streets of Trois Rivieres.  It will be televised on tape delay by VERSUS at 4 p.m. on Aug. 17.