It is the fifth career pole for the driver of the No. 10 Target Dallara-Honda, but first at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Qualifying was the third session of the day the Englishman led, having paced both of the day's earlier practice sessions. The domination at the 1.5-mile oval is not unexpected, as the defending race winner was also quickest during preseason testing at this venue.

"Homestead obviously seems to be a very good place for me," said Wheldon. "Right now everybody has zero points and nobody has won the race yet so we'll have to see what I can do. I think it's going to be a very competitive race, and the fans are going to be in for a treat."

Finishing just a fraction of a second behind was 2006 IRL IndyCar Series champion and last season's polesitter for the event, Sam Hornish Jr., who set a fast lap of 214.298 mph.

"We were second here in the preseason test and we were second in both sessions today. Now we were second in qualifying. I guess if worse comes to worse, we'll finish second tomorrow. That will be OK," said Hornish, driver of the No. 6 Team Penske Racing Dallara-Honda.

With the front row start, Hornish will continue to gauge himself against Wheldon. Last season, both drivers finished the season tied with points, but Hornish held the first tiebreaker for the title because he had four season victories versus Wheldon's two.

A trio of Andretti Green Racing teammates - Dario Franchitti (213.714 mph), Tony Kanaan (213.474 mph) and Marco Andretti (212.754 mph) - round out the first five spots.

Andretti Green's newest member did not fare as well, however, as Danica Patrick will start 14th in her debut for the four car organization after running a qualifying lap of 211.431 mph.

"The Motorola car felt good. It was stuck the whole way around. It just didn't go very fast," said Patrick, driver of the No. 7 Motorola Dallara-Honda. "I don't know what the problem is. It felt better than it felt all day, so I don't have an answer. I drove exactly where I wanted to drive. I took it around the bottom. I made sure that the car was still rolling free. I really couldn't have done much else."

Scott Dixon, Scott Sharp, Helio Castroneves, Sarah Fisher and A.J. Foyt IV complete the top 10.

A total of 20 drivers qualified for Saturday's 200-lap event.

Saturday's XM Satellite Radio 300 is slated to take the green flag shortly after 8 p.m. (ET). Live Coverage of the event is available on the IMS Radio Network, XM Satellite Radio and ESPN2 (television).