Maybe the cars just work that way at Texas.

Also Marco has been bitching about the Aero changes reducing pack racing.

It might just be me, but the Lotus does not seem as slow as it did at Indy.

The aerodynamic makeup of the new Dallara car on the 1.5-mile, high-banked Texas Motor Speedway oval wasn't necessarily set to deter speed. Alex Tagliani proved that in qualifications for the Firestone 550.

Tagliani, driving the No. 98 Team Barracuda-BHA car, recorded a two-lap average speed of 215.691 mph (48.5695 seconds) to claim the pole position for the 228-lap race June 9 (9 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network) for the second consecutive year. He topped last June's speed (215.186 mph average).

"We flew under the radar at Indy but had a really fast car (for the race) and I think the car has been good on every type of track," said Tagliani, who qualified third at Belle Isle five days earlier. "It's looking good for the rest of the year."

Dario Franchitti, driving the No. 10 Energizer car for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, was second (215.646) -- 0.0102 of a second behind -- and Graham Rahal posted his highest starting position of the season (third, 215.544) in the No. 38 Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing car. He'll be joined on Row 2 by Scott Dixon (215.331).

"That was probably the most difficult qualifying I've had here with the level of downforce. We've tried to make the cars harder to drive and I definitely felt that in qualify and I think we'll have that in the race," Franchitti said. "I think that will make better racing. It will be like any race we've seen here in some time."

Maybe he can be the next to fly over the back of another car and into a fence.

No-one would miss him.

That was way out of line, man. Good lord.