The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Scott Dixon won the pole for the Kansas Indy 300 on Saturday and Tomas Scheckter was second, giving Chip Ganassi Racing both front-row spots for the race.

Points leader Tony Kanaan, whose advantage over the second-place Dixon has dwindled to 27 points, will start in the fourth row for today's race on Kansas Speedway's 1 1/2-mile tri-oval.

Dixon's qualifying lap of 218.08 mph gave him his second straight pole and third of the season. His win continued a hot streak that includes two straight victories and a string of 287 consecutive laps led.

He has not been out of the lead since the 141st lap at Pikes Peak on June 15, and last week led all 206 laps of a rain-shortened race at Richmond, an IRL record for most consecutive laps led in one race.

"Richmond was going to be a hard circuit to pass," said Dixon, who leads the IRL with three victories in his first season after moving over from CART. "We just had a fast car up front. It's going to be a lot different tomorrow."

Scheckter, who won the pole here a year ago as a rookie, turned in a fast lap of 217.89 mph. On Friday, he went over 218 mph and was the day's fastest driver in practice.

"This surprises me a little bit," Dixon said. "I really thought (the polesitter) was going to be Tomas."

The two plan some early-race strategy, Scheckter said.

"It is a long race," Scheckter said. "It does not matter who goes into Turn 1 first. Hopefully we can just get in line and start conserving fuel and hope we have good stops."

Tora Takagi and Indianapolis 500 winner Gil de Ferran will start on the second row, with Felipe Giaffone fifth - after switching to the car he drove last week at Richmond - and Helio Castroneves sixth.

FORMULA ONE: Ralf Schumacher won the pole position for today's French Grand Prix at Magny Cours - his third pole in the last four races.

Juan Pablo Montoya, his Williams-BMW teammate, was second and points leader Michael Schumacher of Ferrari was third.

"We had an all-Williams front row in Canada, but we didn't get it right," Ralf Schumacher said. "There are so many things that can go wrong on race day."

Williams-BMW has won two of the last three races, with Ralf Schumacher capturing the last race and Montoya winning in Monaco.

NASCAR TRUCKS: Jon Wood, of NASCAR's famed Wood Brothers Racing family, started from the back of the field but still earned his first NASCAR victory, winning the O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas City, Kan. He qualified third on the 1 1/2-mile tri-oval but had to start from the back of the field because he changed engines.

"I know I passed every truck at least five times," Wood said.

Wood, who drives the No. 50 Ford for Roush Racing, is the 21-year-old grandson of Glen Wood, who with his brother, Len, formed the No. 21 Ford Winston Cup team in 1953.