By CURT CAVIN
The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS - Pole favorites are sprinkled throughout Saturday's Indianapolis 500 qualifying order. But last year's front-row starters debate when the best laps will be turned.

Qualifying is set for 11 a.m. The session ends at 6 p.m.

Robby Gordon hopes going early will turn out better this year - he ended up third last year - as he gets one of the first cracks at the rain-cleansed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Tony Kanaan is keying on mid-afternoon, when participants have a better understanding of the pole target. The Brazilian's run at 2:41 p.m. last year landed him in the No. 2 starting spot.

Helio Castroneves expects some gambler to hold his dice until late in the afternoon to see how others have played. That was what the Team Penske driver did last year, delivering the pole-winning speed of 231.725 mph at 4:36 p.m.

"But sometimes that can be tricky," Castroneves said. "What if you wait till 5 o'clock and there's all these people trying to go at the same time, and you don't get to run?

"We might (wait), but I did it last year to get my confidence back because of the wind. If I feel comfortable early, why wait?"

The pole is a major incentive, of course. In addition to being the most prestigious top qualifying spot in motorsports, it's also worth at least $100,000 in cash and prizes.

Indy pole winners become heroes, too. Sam Hornish Jr., who Friday said Saturday's pole wasn't his focus, admitted that winning one here could be considered as significant as winning a race somewhere else.

"I'd still rather win one race than 20 poles, but it would be great to get the pole here," he said.

An ideal weather forecast gets credit for the intrigue that will be present at the Speedway. Expected to be crisp and dry, the conditions should be the most consistent they have been for pole day in years. Usually in mid-May, the temperature and humidity rise as the hours pass.

This way, different strategies are available for application. As many as 27 cars could make attempts, although a couple of drivers at the bottom of the week's performance chart have indicated they will wait at least a day longer to find more speed.

Qualifying continues Sunday, with another opportunity May 22.

Each car is allowed three qualifying runs with the starting order based on the time it takes a driver to complete four laps. The race lineup is set by qualifying day, which means Saturday's qualifiers will start at the head of the field.

The Indy Racing League held a draw for qualifying order Friday, but it shouldn't take long to make the list obsolete. For example, race rookie Ed Carpenter is first in line, but that slot is reserved for his team's backup car; he wants to use the primary, which is 40th in line.

Different than Carpenter's case is the scenario whereby drivers and their teams pull out of line to wait for a better time slot. That's what Castroneves and others did last year. Sometimes it works, sometimes it backfires. After the initial line is broken, it's first come, first served.

Gordon won't pull out of line because he has a NASCAR Nextel Cup race to get to Saturday night at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. Missing driver introductions would strip him of his sixth-place qualifying effort.

Kanaan vowed to pass on his primary car's first chance, even though it is officially listed as No. 47 and should come at 1:30 p.m.

"Everyone will be going big-time between 3:30 and 4 p.m.," he said. "That's when you're going to see the big numbers, in my opinion."

Just how many pole contenders there are remains to be seen. Certainly there are two from Team Penske (Castroneves and Hornish), two from AGR (Kanaan and Dan Wheldon), two from Super Aguri Fernandez Racing (Adrian Fernandez and rookie Kosuke Matsuura) and one from Ganassi Racing (defending IRL champion Scott Dixon).

A handful of other drivers believe they have a shot at the front row, including Roger Yasukawa and Buddy Rice of Rahal Letterman Racing and Tomas Scheckter of Panther Racing.

Kanaan is credited with the week's best speed at 222.668 mph, but that lap had the benefit of the draft. Because no one got to run the better engines from Toyota, Honda and Chevrolet due to Friday's virtual washout, there is a lot to learn from the morning practice (8-10 a.m.).

"The truth is going to come out (Saturday)," Fernandez said. "It's a matter of weather."

And timing.

Indy 500

Today's qualifying for the 88th Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway:

• Practice, 9 a.m.

• MBNA Pole Qualifications, noon

TV: Noon and 5 p.m., ESPN; 1 p.m., Ch. 9, 2.