INDIANAPOLIS - Arie Luyendyk's gamble paid off.

Going against the racing "book," Luyendyk didn't wait until happy hour (5-6 p.m.) to try to make his run for the pole.

In a surprise move, he jumped into his car at 3:20 p.m. and ran a 218.263 to bump Jeff Ward off the top spot. Luyendyk survived a run of 218.021 by Tony Stewart to capture his second Indianapolis 500 pole, also running first in 1993.

"It was a typical pole day, where people are looking at you and wondering what you are going to do, and you are wondering the same thing," Luyendyk said. "They were probably wondering what we were doing practicing so much."

Luyendyk just decided it was as good as it was going to get.

"There were some mind games going on," he said. "We figured out that you can run so many (practice) laps around to get it right. We decided we were close. Sometimes you have to say to yourself 'that is what I am going to get out of it on this particular run, and let's just go with it.'"

But for Luyendyk, it wasn't that much of a calculated risk. It was just a matter of getting what he could out of the car when he could. Luyendyk, who had been running practice laps all day Saturday before his qualifying run, knew that with the new chassies the Indy cars are running these days that he couldn't wait until the cooler weather of the later hours in qualifying. He had to do it when it was warm, and the tires had a chance to adhere to the track.

"I didn't want to sit around all day until someone made up their mind," Luyendyk said. "We took that decision and went out there. We found out that in the warm conditions, you run quicker. That is why we decided to go out while the track temperatures were still up."

Stewart went out just a couple of cars later, but the warm weather seemed to work just the opposite for him.

"The car was sticking too good, that is what cost us the pole," Stewart said. "We wanted to make one more change and try it, but we just made it into the qualifying line too late."

Stewart paced last year's Indy 500, although he didn't win the pole. He moved into that spot when Menard teammate Scott Brayton, the two-time pole winner, died in a wreck in practice after claiming the pole.

This year, though, Stewart wanted the fruits that go with winning the pole position, the prestige, the van, and the $100,000.

"It feels like someone kicked my dog," Stewart said. "We put a lot of emphasis on the pole, that is no secret. When you have the fastest testing speed, you are pretty confident."

After five cars qualified from the opening of quals at 11 a.m. until noon, the track opened for practice and/or qualifying, but nobody went out until Luyendyk unexpectedly jumped into his Treadway racing car.

"We knew that Arie wasn't going to go away," Stewart said. "We had a plan of what we wanted to do. We still wanted to out and make one more run. After he went out, he got of sparked everybody else, and said it was time to go. We just didn't have enough time."

Stewart wants what Luyendyk has.

"If something does go wrong in the race, at least we still have the satisfaction of winning the pole," Luyendyk said. "That is why winning the pole was a goal of ours."

Because of the delay between the two qualifying sessions, Ward held the pole for about four hours on Saturday.

"It feels great," Ward said about qualifying. "I was here in '95 and was close. It was very emotional. (Danny) Sullivan came over and gave me a hug." [[In-content Ad]]