Power edges teammate Castroneves for Edmonton pole

Autoracing Betting Lines

07/24/2010 - Edmonton, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Will Power won the pole for Sunday's Honda Indy Edmonton, while his teammate, Helio Castroneves, qualified on the outside pole to give Team Penske another front row start in the IZOD IndyCar Series this season.

Power rounded the 1.96-mile, 14-turn Edmonton City Centre Airport course in one minute, 0.7126 seconds for his sixth pole of the season and the eighth of his IndyCar career. He started on the pole and won his first IndyCar race one year ago at Edmonton.

"It's awesome to get the car on the pole again," Power said. "All the points count, and I know here it's important to be at the front, because it is tough to pass. If all the strategy goes well, like it did last year, it makes it easier to win. It's a long day tomorrow. We have a good starting spot, and we have to keep going to win this championship."

Castroneves came up short of winning the pole by qualifying 0.0765 seconds behind Power.

"We had a very good lap out there, and I just made a little mistake, and this place is about not making mistakes," Castroneves said.

Team Penske has dominated qualifying in the series this season by winning the pole for nine of the last 10 races. Last weekend at Toronto, Justin Wilson ended Penske's streak of eighth consecutive poles.

Scott Dixon, who won the inaugural 2008 IndyCar race at Edmonton, qualified third, while his Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate and defending series champion, Dario Franchitti, took the fourth spot.

Power will attempt to win a series record-tying third consecutive race. He won on the street/road courses at Toronto and Watkins Glen, NY earlier this month. The Australian driver currently holds a 43-point lead over Franchitti.

Ryan Briscoe from Penske and KV Racing's E.J. Viso will share the third row.

Rookie Simona de Silvestro, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Wilson and Raphael Matos completed the top-10.

Danica Patrick did not make it out of the first of three qualifying sessions and will start 21st in the 25-car field.

Canadians Paul Tracy and Alex Tagliani qualified 15th and 19th, respectively.

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Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting.