Carpenter tops Power for first IndyCar pole at Kentucky

Autoracing Betting Lines

09/03/2010 - Sparta, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ed Carpenter earned his first pole in the IZOD IndyCar Series after edging points leader Will Power in Friday's qualifying for the Kentucky Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway.

Carpenter, making just his third IndyCar start in the No.20 car for Panther/Vision Racing this season, posted a two-lap average of 217.933 m.p.h. around the 1.5-mile oval for his first career pole in his 102nd start. He also became the 10th different pole sitter in 11 races at Kentucky.

"The way I kind of look at it, I'm trying to keep my career going during every minute I'm in the car," Carpenter said. "I have to do the best that I can and get the most out of it. I'm just having a lot of fun right now. The Panther team is doing a great job, in addition with the Vision Racing part of it. It's just a lot of fun."

Last year, Carpenter finished a career-best second at Kentucky. Ryan Briscoe from Team Penske nipped Carpenter at the finish line by only 0.0162 seconds, making it the seventh closest finish in series' history at the time.

Power captured the outside pole with a lap of 217.829 m.p.h. The Penske driver's two-lap total time was just 0.0234 seconds behind Carpenter. Last week at Chicagoland Speedway, Power finished a season-worst 16th after experiencing a fueling issue during a late-race pit stop and then ran out of gas while contending for the lead in the closing laps.

Carpenter's teammate, Dan Wheldon, will share the second row with Scott Dixon from Chip Ganassi Racing.

Hideki Mutoh qualified fifth, followed by Bertrand Baguette, and Mario Moraes.

Penske teammates Helio Castroneves and Briscoe, who won the pole at Chicagoland, took the eighth and ninth starting positions, respectively.

Tomas Scheckter, driving an entry for Conquest Racing, completed the top-10.

Dario Franchitti, who led the way in practice earlier in the day, qualified a disappointing 11th. The Ganassi driver and defending series champion trails Power by 23 points with three races to go.

All four drivers from Andretti Autosport struggled in qualifying. Marco Andretti qualified 15th, while Danica Patrick placed 17th. Tony Kanaan nearly crashed during his qualifying effort and wound up 26th. Ryan Hunter-Reay will start last in the 27-car field after he spun around and backed into the wall during his run.

Saturday's 300-mile race from Kentucky will start around 8:45 p.m. (et).

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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