Patrick takes pole at Kansas Speedway

KANSAS CITY, Kan., July 2 (UPI) -- Danica Patrick won the pole Saturday for the Argent Mortgage Indy 300 Sunday at Kansas City, Kan.

The pole victory was the first for the 23-year-old Patrick, who has run just eight races in her fledgling auto racing career.

"I'm excited, the team is very strong," Patrick said. "We all work hard together. We definitely redeemed ourselves from Richmond."

She started a disappointing 21st recently at Richmond, Va., but rallied to finish 10th.

"I think we'll make it to the podium if we just make it to the end," she said.

Patrick became just the second woman to start on an IndyCar pole. Sarah Fisher did it in 2002 in Kentucky.

At the Kansas Speedway Sunday, Patrick will be joined on the front row by Rahal/Letterman teammate Buddy Rice, who posted a second-best time of 25.4927 seconds. Rice won the race in 2004.

Vitor Meira will start third alongside Tomas Scheckter (25.5054).