Rookie Gregg claims pole in maiden IPS outing.

Travis Gregg, making his debut in the IRL Menards Infiniti Pro Series, won pole position for this weekend's Kentucky 100, seeing off the challenge of current points leader Thiago Medeiros.

Gregg, driving the #5 Sam Schmidt Motorsports Dallara as team-mate to Medeiros, set the pace with a fastest lap of 190.398mph on the 1.5-mile tri-oval, but the pole was exchanged between six of the top eight qualifiers. Gregg, eighth in the qualifying line, knocked a former Schmidt driver - Arie Luyendyk Jr - off the pole. Luyendyk, who previously drove the #5 entry, was out in the #27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers Inc car this week.

"I was trying come here today, stay out of trouble and have fun," Gregg admitted, "It turned out to be a lot better than that. I can't say anything better about the car. Blair [Pershbacher], the engineer, and JR [chief mechanic John Roof] did a great job on the set-up and we had a great car all day. We were fast, and we just made it quicker as the day went on."

Series points leader Medeiros also bumped Luyendyk off the front row with a lap of 189.221mph to secure the second all front-row start for the Schmidt team this season.

The field is separated by 0.8301secs - the second-closest in series history after last year's Kentucky event - but created a first as Medeiros, who has five pole positions under his belt in the #11 Schmidt entry this year, will start second for the first time.

"We were stronger in the draft than by ourselves," Medeiros revealed, suggesting that the race will be better for him than qualifying, "We also found a little problem with the engine, so we tried to fix that. We'll see what we can do tomorrow. It's a long race, and I have more experience, so we'll see how that goes."

Despite being bumped from the front line, Luyendyk remained satisfied with his performance.

"We're starting third, which is where our goal was to be," he said, "The car is really good, and I'm happy for the crew. Obviously, it's a little disappointing to see the #5 up front, but hopefully we can change that when it comes race time. This is a fresh start for me, and the car was good right off the bat. I think we'll be good for the race, and I'm in the car for the rest of the season, so I'm looking forward to Pikes Peak and all the other races coming up."

The series' latest race winner, PJ Chesson qualified seventh overall, behind Paul Dana, serial podium finisher Al Unser and Leo Maia.

"We made a lot of progress through the first two practice sessions, but unfortunately had too much downforce in the car for our qualifying run," he revealed, "We definitely have a good race car. I just wish we were further up on the grid for the race tomorrow."

Phil Giebler, Billy Roe, Jesse Mason and Rolando Quintanilla round out the grid.