JOLIET, Ill. - Sam Hornish Jr.'s chase of a second straight IRL points title will continue today — this time from the front.

        The defending series champion qualified for the pole in the Delphi Indy 300 and did it quickly Saturday, setting a Chicagoland Speedway track record of 222.867 mph.

        Hornish, currently third in the championship race just eight points behind leader Helio Castroneves and seven under second-place Gil de Ferran, will be on the pole for the first time since the season opener at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

        He went on to win that race and has earned two other victories this season for Panther Racing.

        Hornish, 23, finished second in this race last year to clinch the championship.

        “You can

        much win from anywhere here. Starting from the back, you can win if your car is good enough,” Hornish said of the 1.5-mile D-shaped tri-oval.

        Two-time Indy 500 winner Castroneves will start 21st today

        and his Penske teammate de Ferran 11th. Castroneves has 437 points, de Ferran 436 and Hornish 429. After today

        race, there is only one remaining, at Texas Motor Speedway next week.

        “Our qualifying run was very disappointing, especially since we're battling for the championship” said Castroneves, whose speed was 218.857. “Tomorrow is the day that counts. It's a long race so we need to stay out of trouble and bring it home.”

        Hornish will start in the top 10 for the 23rd straight time, an IRL record. He also has nine top-five finishes this season.

        “We'll just continue to do what we've been doing so far this year and see if it works out for us,” he said. “When we start on the pole and the people were are running with for the championship are 11th and 20th or whatever, it helps out quite a bit.”

        With such a slim margin separating the top three, Hornish knows his best chance of overtaking the Penske teammates is simply to win. Not that being conservative has ever been his approach.

        “One time this year I thought about hanging back and making sure I finished the race and got the points,” he said. “And about that time I got hit in the sidepod and spun in the wall. I go out there and push as hard as I can within the limits of the car. You've always got to push for the win because next week in Texas might not turn out as well as we'd like.”

        The previous fastest lap at the Chicagoland Speedway was 222.137 turned by Robbie Buhl on lap 73 of last year's race.

        On the front line today with Hornish will be rookie Buddy Rice, who will be in just his fourth IRL race for Red Bull Cheever Racing. When he started second in his initial race at Michigan on July 28, Rice finished second. “This is going to be a big draft fest,” said Rice, who qualified at 222.434. “Hopefully we can just get up front and stay up front with the lead pack.

        “It's going to be two abreast, so we've really worked on full-tank runs. We'll have to see how the yellow plays and what happens.”

        Al Unser Jr. will start third, matching his best IRL qualifying performance. He'll be in the second row with Billy Boat.

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