Near-flawless run earns Herta pole

Bryan Herta felt the pressure after messing up the lap that was supposed to be his fastest in qualifying for the Indy Racing League’s first road race.

“I couldn’t afford any more mistakes,” Herta said Saturday. “I knew that next lap had to be right.”

It was.

Herta, considered a top road racer during his nine years in the rival Champ Car World Series, was almost perfect on his next trip around the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit in downtown St. Petersburg, Fla.

He lapped the course in 1-minute, 2.51-seconds (103.665 mph) – good enough to take the pole for today’s inaugural Honda Grand Prix.

“I made a couple of big mistakes and I kind of got away with something,” said Herta, whose first IRL pole came two weeks ago on the 1-mile oval at Phoenix International Raceway. “I was just hoping that last lap was going to be good enough.”

The IRL came up with a unique qualifying procedure for its first road race in its 10-year history, with each of the drivers entered starting with a single qualifying lap. The six fastest then had 10 minutes on the track to determine the first three rows of the 21-car lineup for the 100-lap race.

Dario Franchitti turned in the fastest time in the single-lap qualifying, trailed by Helio Castroneves, Tomas Enge, Herta, Sam Hornish Jr. and Tony Kanaan.

Although this is the first non-oval race in the IRL’s history, Franchitti, Castroneves and Kanaan also had extensive road racing experience in Champ Car, and Enge is a former Formula One test driver.

Among the top six, only two-time IRL IndyCar Series champion Hornish – who won at Phoenix and leads the series points standings – has had no big league road racing experience.

All of the top six improved in the shootout, but Castronves came up just shy of Herta at 1:02.69 (103.36). He was followed by Kanaan at 1:02.98 (102.892), Franchitti at 1:03.04 (102.794), Enge at 1:03.27 (102.426) and Hornish at 1:03.45 (102.125).

Childress returns to pit box

The last time Richard Childress sat on top of a pit box for a race was in 2001. Now, the four-race suspension of his crew chief Todd Berrier has forced him to climb back on to coach Kevin Harvick at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tenn.

“I’m doing it more to show my organization how much I care about it,” Childress said. “I called Kevin and I told him what I wanted to do and wanted to get right there on the pit box and light some fire … with my presence, I want them to know how sincere I am to get this team back in the winner’s circle.”

Harvick, who drives Childress’ flagship car, has not won a race in 55 attempts. His last victory was in 2003 at the Brickyard 400.

Alonso leads F1 qualifying

Fernando Alonso had the best time during the first qualifying session for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir, Bahrain, where he will attempt to win a second straight Formula One race.

The Renault driver was timed in 1 minute, 29.848 seconds on the 3.367-mile circuit. Jarno Trulli of Toyota followed in 1:29.993. Michael Schumacher, racing Ferrari’s new car for the first time this weekend, was next in 1:30.237.

Busch race postponed

The Busch Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tenn., was postponed because of rain.

The Sharpie Professional 250 will be run on Monday at 7:30 am. PDT.

Carl Edwards is on the pole.