INDYCARNATION

SPARTA, Ky. -- There were a few days earlier this year when Ed Carpenter questioned not his desire but whether he would have the opportunity to continue to compete in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

Vision Racing, which entered the series in 2005 with Carpenter as the primary driver, suspended racing operations as it sought sponsorship for the No. 20 car for the 2010 season. It sold portions of its inventory and moved from its spacious Indianapolis shop. A deal was struck for the Indianapolis 500 -- the one race the team couldn't miss -- with pro golfer Fuzzy Zoeller, who was seeking to promote his vodka brand, and team co-owners Tony and Laura George collaborated with longtime friend and team owner John Barnes for Panther Racing to field the car.

Carpenter started eighth and finished 17th, but the doubts of continuing lingered. Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka returned as sponsor for the three domestic oval races to close the season -- Chicagoland, Kentucky and Homestead-Miami -- and the Panther/Vision program was re-energized.

So was Carpenter, who led three laps at Chicagoland on Aug. 28 and was in the top five for most of the first 100 laps before a fueling issue blunted his chance at contending for the victory. Enter Carpenter at Kentucky Speedway, where he wouldn't necessarily say he had unfinished business but it was understood.

Carpenter, who finished a career-best second to Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe last year -- by an agonizing 0.0162 of a second -- will start this year's edition from the point. He earned the PEAK Performance Pole Award for the Kentucky Indy 300 with a two-lap average of 217.933 mph (48.8958 seconds) on the 1.5-mile oval.

It's Carpenter's first IZOD IndyCar Series pole in 101 starts (and comes in the 200th Indy Racing League event), and he's the 10th different pole sitter in the 11 years at the track. His previous best start was fourth at Michigan in 2006 and Homestead-Miami in '09. The top 23 cars were separated by 1 second.

"I love this track and this area," he said. "I won one of my national midget races in Louisville and won a lot of sprint car races in Salem, Ind. The southern Indiana/Kentucky region seems to be good to me for some reason.

"The way I kind of look at it, I’m trying to keep my career going so every minute I’m in the car. 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 going a great job in addition with the Vision Racing part of it.  It’s just a lot of fun."

Will Power (217.829 mph) will start on the front row for the 11th time this season i the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car, and potentially put some distance between himself and Dario Franchitti in the championship chase. Power enters the 200-lap race with a 23-point lead, and Franchitti starts 11th in the No. 10 Dixie entry for Target Chip Ganassi Racing.

"I need a good result on a 1.5-mile oval this season and it’s important that we finish ahead of Dario to keep the points lead," Power said. "I feel that qualifying is very important but this track allows for passing and a lot can happen during the race.”

Carpenter's teammate for the third time this season, Dan Wheldon, will start a season-high third in the No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing car and Scott Dixon also will be on Row 2.

Wheldon also has been having an oval resurgence. He posted his third top five of the season at Chicagoland with a runner-up finish to Franchitti (just as he was in the Indy 500).

"It was obviously a great job by everybody at the National Guard Panther Racing team and we’ve been enjoying the good run we’ve had the last few races," he said. "It’s such a great benefit to have Ed Carpenter with us this weekend in the Fuzzy’s Vodka car. Ed’s been a great addition and he’s really helped the team, as you can see by our performance.

"It’s going to be a hectic race again and I’m excited for that. Hopefully we can go one position better than we did last race in the No. 4 car but that’s not to underestimate the competition; it’s extremely competitive out there and I’m just having a lot of fun right now.”

Hideki Mutoh has qualified in the top 10 on all the ovals this season (fifth in the No. 02 Formula Dream/Panasonic car for Newman/Haas Racing), and Bertrand Baguette recorded a season-high sixth starting position in the No. 34 RACB Conquest Racing car (previous best 13th at Infineon). Mario Moraes also had a season-high qualifying effort of seventh in the No. 32 KV Racing Technology car. Team Penske teammates Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe will start eighth and ninth.

"I must admit I was a bit surprised with our speed," said Baguette, who advanced eight positions to finish 12th at Chicagoland. "It’s faster than I thought it would be because we didn’t do any qualifying runs in practice. I made a small mistake on my second lap that cost us some speed so I didn’t think at the end of my qualifying laps that we would end up P6 on the grid.

"As a team, we placed both cars in the top 10 (Tomas Scheckter was 10th in the No. 36 Norcote Conquest Racing car) and beat out teams like Ganassi and Penske, so that is very encouraging for us. We might be a small team compared to others but we’re doing great things.”

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