Sam Hornish Jr. claimed the Marlboro Pole Award for the June 10 Bombardier Learjet 500k at Texas Motor Speedway.

The reigning Indianapolis 500 winner posted a lap of 24.5197 seconds, 213.624 mph, in the No. 6 Marlboro Team Penske Honda-powered Dallara. Hornish’s time was .0041 of a second faster than reigning IndyCar® Series champion Dan Wheldon, who recorded a lap of 24.5238, 213.588 mph, in his No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda-powered Dallara.

Hornish’s teammate Helio Castroneves was third-quickest at 24.5706, 213.182 mph in his No. 3 Marlboro Team Penske Honda-powered Dallara while Wheldon’s teammate Scott Dixon (212.929 mph) and defending race winner Tomas Scheckter (212.823 mph) were fourth and fifth, respectively in their Honda-powered Dallaras.

Qualifying Thursday for the Bombardier Learjet 500k IRL IndyCar Series event on the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway, with starting position, car number in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine and speed:

1. (6) Sam Hornish Jr., Dallara-Honda, 213.624

2. (10) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 213.588

3. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 213.182

4. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 212.929

5. (2) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, 212.823

6. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 212.313

7. (8) Scott Sharp, Dallara-Honda, 212.242

8. (27) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 211.933

9. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 211.923

10. (55) Kosuke Matsuura, Dallara-Honda, 211.545

11. (7) Bryan Herta, Dallara-Honda, 211.532

12. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 211.395

13. (4) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 211.284

14. (15) Buddy Rice, Dallara-Honda, 211.163

15. (16) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 210.981

16. (17) Jeff Simmons, Dallara-Honda, 210.445

17. (51) Eddie Cheever Jr., Dallara-Honda, 209.414

18. (5) Buddy Lazier, Dallara-Honda, 209.152

19. (14) Felipe Giaffone, Dallara-Honda, no speed.

MARLBORO POLE QUALIFYING QUOTES:

SAM HORNISH JR. (No. 6 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Honda/Firestone, Marlboro Pole Award winner): “Everything is going really good for the Marlboro Team Penske car. Our run was pretty good, even though we slowed down from where we thought we’d be. The car ran really good earlier today when we were running in practice. We got around a couple of cars and we ran really well. Hopefully, the Marlboro Team Penske car will run as good on Saturday. The big thing for us is to make sure we don’t get ourselves in any trouble and make sure the car handles well in traffic, because that’s how it will be on race day.”

DAN WHELDON (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone, qualified second): “I think it was a relatively clean and good run. This year, we’ve been just a little shy. I think we have a car that is certainly reasonable for the race. That is something we worked on this morning. I think this year’s race is very close. I think the fans are in for something that will be very entertaining.”

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Honda/Firestone, qualified third): “I’m happy with how we qualified tonight. We were looking for speed earlier today in the second practice session, and we just couldn’t find it. I have to say, the Marlboro Team Penske guys did a great job for me this evening, and I’m very satisfied with our qualifying position – the car was great. We’re in the top-five, and I’m very content with that, and I’m  definitely looking forward to an exciting race on Saturday night.”

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone, qualified fourth): “It was pretty decent. Saturday night, with the temperatures going down, it will be a lot nicer. Our team has had a ton of confidence all year. The car has been quick, but we haven’t capitalized on it.”

TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone, qualified sixth): “We’ve spent most of our time working on our qualifying setup. Team 7-Eleven always has good race cars here. If you look back at my record, it’s pretty good, apart from 2003 when Helio (Castroneves) took us out. We have a good qualifying position so now we can focus on getting ready to go racing.”

SCOTT SHARP (No. 8 Delphi Dallara/Honda/Firestone, qualified seventh): “It’s time for us to step forward as a team. I think the guys have done really well preparing the cars. We had two really good practice sessions. We felt really competitive. Texas is a unique track. It doesn’t matter where you qualify here because it’s completely different for the race.”

DARIO FRANCHITTI (No. 27 Klein Tools/Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/ Firestone, qualified eighth): “The Klein Tools/Canadian Club car has been comfortable all day, it’s just not terribly fast.  It wasn’t a bad performance, and it gives us something to work on tomorrow.  We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow to try and have a good car for this race because it’s a hard race when you’re back in traffic, so it’s important to get the balance right.”

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 26 NYSE Group Dallara/Honda/Firestone, qualified ninth): “I think my engineers could qualify the car here, but this is about where I thought I’d qualify the NYSE car, so I have to say that I’m pleased. I found out in practice that I’m definitely going to have to drive the car during the race. There are going to be two or three guys outside of you when you have somebody in front of you, so we’ve got to get the car to where I can go flat out when I’m running behind somebody.”