Graham Rahal won the pole Saturday for the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (FL), the 2009 season opener for the IndyCar Series.  Rahal, also the defending champion of the race, became the youngest driver to win an IndyCar pole.  Rahal's time of 1:02.4110 (103.828 mph) was the quickest in the third qualifying segment on the 14-turn temporary street circuit.

Justin Wilson will start on the outside of the front row.  The rest of the top five qualifiers included Tony Kanaan, Ryan Briscoe, and Dario Franchitti.  Franchitti is returning to the IndyCar Series this season after his foray into NASCAR last year.

Sunday's race begins at 2pm ET and will be broadcast on Versus.

Scott Dixon was fastest Tuesday at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the first IndyCar test session of the week.  His lap of 211.372 mph was just seven-hundredths of a second faster than Ryan Briscoe's top speed of 210.793 mph.  Dario Franchitti didn't require long to get re-acclimated to an Indy car.  He was third-fastest at 210.603 mph on the 1.5-mile banked oval.  Dixon is the defending IndyCar Series champion.

Rounding out the top 10 were Mario Moraes, Will Power, Marco Andretti, rookie Robert Doornbos, Briscoe in a second car, Tony Kanaan, and Graham Rahal.  Danica Patrick was 11th-fastest.

In all, 21 cars participated in the test, turning nearly 2,100 laps combined.

Testing resumes on Wednesday from 4:00pm to 10:00pm ET.

The Homestead-Miami Speedway will host two days of pre-season open testing for the IndyCar Series this week.  The track will be available from 4:00pm to 10:00pm ET on Tuesday, February 24 and Wednesday, February 25.  The Firestone Indy Lights will share the track with their own testing on Tuesday morning.  The support division also had a test session for rookies on Monday.

"It's definitely important for me and Panther Racing in particular, because we've got to figure out where we need to improve as a group so when the season starts we're very, very strong," said Dan Wheldon, the 2005 series champion, who joins Panther Racing after three seasons with Target Chip Ganassi Racing. "Those first few races for points are very, very important. We're not taking it lightly by any stretch. We're going to work very hard to make sure we come out of the blocks swinging."

Dario Franchitti is returning to the IndyCar Series after last year's foray into NASCAR.  Franchitti had a disappointing year after being injured at Talladega in May.  Meanwhile, NASCAR driver Stanton Barrett intends to compete in Indy cars this year.

For more information, including the schedule and participant list, hop over to IndyCar.com.

The first IndyCar race of the season is scheduled for April 5 -- the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (FL).