Patrick's 121.098 mph was good enough to capture the other spot on the front row at the Honda Indy 200 during qualifying on Saturday, putting her in ideal position to become the first woman to win an IndyCar event.

"I'm starting on the front row, which is my best starting position of the year for a while — actually, for a long time," Patrick said with a chuckle. "That gives me a good chance to win the race, but let's not forget I'm still up against incredibly good drivers and it's going to be difficult. It will be a very huge accomplishment to win this race."

Patrick had never before finished higher than 11th in qualifying on a road course in her three years in IndyCar.

Despite never finishing higher than third in a race, there isn't much question that she's one of if not the marquee faces and names of the series, if not the biggest.

Patrick led the Indianapolis 500 for 19 laps and finished fourth, but millions more know her because of her looks, her posters and calendars and the glut of media attention she gets wherever she goes.

"I've got to congratulate Danica on her run," said Andretti Green Racing teammate Tony Kanaan, who qualified third. "She's been working hard on her out laps (coming out of pit row) and I think it paid off."

Marco Andretti qualified fourth, and series points leader Dario Franchitti drew the prime spot in the third row, just inside of the driver closest to him in the standings, Scott Dixon.

"It's been a bit of a struggle so far this weekend, but you never know what can happen in a race," Dixon said. "The key will be trying to get to the front _ or simply in front of Dario. We can't let too many points slip through our fingers."

Ohio native Sam Hornish Jr. will start out of the No. 7 slot. Dan Wheldon, third in points, qualified 11th.

The 18-car field will have 85 laps to try to solve the twisting, 13-turn, 2.258-mile circuit at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, hosting its inaugural IndyCar Series event.

Castroneves, who went 121.620 mph, captured his sixth pole of the season by beating out Patrick by just under three-tenths of a second in the qualifying lap. He's been the pole-sitter at all three of the IndyCar street and road courses this season, going on to win at St. Petersburg for his series-record ninth win from the pole.

With his sixth pole this season, the Brazilian matched another IndyCar Series mark and has qualified in the top 10 in a record 28 consecutive races.

"All weekend long the No. 3 was struggling a little bit and we couldn't find the right setup. My engineer, Ron Ruzewski, kept digging every practice session and all of a sudden with qualifying we started to be in the top six," Castroneves, racing for Team Penske. "As soon as I jumped in the car (for final qualifying) we made another change and he said, 'Listen, we're behind you. Let's go. Whatever you need to do, let's do it.' Those were great words from those guys to give me support."

Castroneves said he was overwhelmed by the huge crowds watching qualifying while sitting on the trackside "mountains."

Patrick, born in the Midwest, laughed and pointed out that those weren't mountains but just hills where all the spectators were.

Her improvement from the last road course is remarkable. Two weeks ago at Watkins Glen, she qualified 15th and ended the race 10th.

"It's a big confidence booster when you have people around you who don't doubt you for a second and are right behind you," she said. "On weekends like Watkins Glen where I just wanted to get out the butter knife and go for my wrist, they still were there. They were saying, 'Don't get down. Don't worry. it's OK. You just need to work on it.'"

Patrick's car didn't stand out in any of the practice sessions or earlier in qualifying. Now she's within reach of a watershed win.