Scott Dixon speeds down a straightaway during qualifying. Dixon took the pole Saturday for the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300, scheduled to start at 4 p.m. today at Kansas Speedway. Dixon's teammate, Dan Wheldon, will start second, and Danica Patrick third.

Kansas City, Kan. ? Race leaders always have a proverbial target on their backs. But in today’s IndyCar Series Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway (4 p.m. on ESPN2, Sunflower Broadband channel 34), there literally will be a target on the front two drivers.

Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon, members of Target Chip Ganassi Racing, will start in the front row after qualifying on Saturday. Dixon took the pole with an average speed of 213.956. Wheldon was just behind at 213.641.

“The Team Target cars were very close right off the trailer,” Dixon said. “We didn’t have to do much to them. We changed the balance here and there a little bit. Dan was maybe a tenth (of a second) quicker than us this morning. It was hard to tell because there were so many cars on the track that you couldn’t get a clean lap.”

Wheldon will look to defend at Kansas from the second position. The driver of the No. 9 car finished first last year out of the fourth starting position.

“Maybe I should have been a little bit more aggressive on the qualifying setup,” Wheldon said. “I didn’t quite have perhaps the acceleration off of the corners that I would have liked. It was consistent, but it was kind of ‘eh.'”

Only one other driver eclipsed the 213-mark.

Danica Patrick, who is coming off a victory last weekend at the Japan 300 in Twin Ring Motegi, had a speed of 213.225.

“We had a good first run today, and the car is really well-balanced,” Patrick said. “Hopefully, we can get out in front of the red and white cars. My crew has worked really hard this week turning the car around.”

Points leader Helio Castroneves will start on the outside of Row 4. Castroneves finished third in last year’s race at Kansas.

“Today was pretty interesting with the cold temperatures this morning,” Castroneves said. “We couldn’t seem to find the kind of speed as the leaders had in practice, so we made some big changes right before qualifying that seemed to help us gain a bit of speed.”

The pole by Dixon was the 10th of his IndyCar Series career and his second at Kansas Speedway – the other coming in 2003.

“It’s going to be interesting,” Dixon said. “Obviously, we’re happy we’re starting 1-2, and what we want to do is try to keep it that way Sunday at the end of the race.

“I expect it to be pretty tough for the leaders to sort of work their ways through the traffic. You’re going to be in traffic within the first 20 to 25 laps if you have great runs. I think the key is going to be trying to go fast when you’re up front but also have enough grip on the car so you can go through the traffic. I think that might be the deciding factor.”