Scott Dixon denied Vitor Meira top spot in the opening session of the IZOD IndyCar Series' penultimate round at the Kentucky Speedway, while Dario Franchitti edged title rival Will Power.
A.J. Foyt's Meira ran at the sharp end throughout the session, and grabbed second two minutes from the end. He could not quite match Dixon however, with the Ganassi man also setting his best time in the final minutes. As the order changed continually, title contenders Will Power (Penske) and Dario Franchitti (Ganassi) kept themselves in the mix.
Power topped the times in the opening stages as Franchitti opted to wait in the pits. When he did come out the Scot was on the pace straight away and moved into second with 10 minutes remaining, before dropping to fourth as others made late improvements. Wade Cunningham was a prime example, the Sam Schmidt racer rising to third with just nine seconds of the session remaining.
KV Racing's Takuma Sato finished fifth fastest ahead of Power and the Ganassi duo of Graham Rahal and Charlie Kimball. Dan Wheldon, competing at Kentucky as a warm-up for his potentially big-money outing at Las Vegas, finished 14th for Sam Schmidt.
Townsend Bell, replacing the injured Justin Wilson at Dreyer and Reinbold, was 20th, while Dillon Battistini (Conquest) was 26th on his debut.