By Bruce Martin SportsTicker Contributing Editor

INDIANAPOLIS (Ticker) -- If the circumstances had been different, Bruno Junqueira may not have even been entered in the Indianapolis 500. Instead, he will start from the pole.

The CART driver for Target/Chip Ganassi Racing ran a four-lap average of 231.342 miles per hour Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and will be on the inside of the front row in the 86th Indy 500 on May 26.

When the Indy Racing League season began in March, the Ganassi team was prepared to bring three drivers to the Indianapolis 500 -- CART driver and former Indy 500 winner Kenny Brack, IRL driver Jeff Ward and NASCAR Winston Cup driver Tony Stewart.

It appeared Junqueira would concentrate on his CART schedule and likely would not be part of the Indy 500 effort, despite the fact he was the fastest rookie qualifier and finished fifth in last year's race.

"There were a lot of things up in the air at that point in time," said Mike Hull, the managing director of Chip Ganassi Racing. "I'm not really sure what we would have done if we would have had all four guys driving for us. We would have figured it out and we had some alternatives, but we figured rather than put the cart in front of the horse we would wait and see if Tony Stewart was a viable driver for us.

"As it turns out, it didn't work out, so everything turned out OK."

Stewart was set to make a return to the Indy before deciding to concentrate strictly on NASCAR Winston Cup racing this season.

"What we were trying to do was three cars, not four," Hull said. "At the time, a lot of people were assuming that Tony was signed up and had made the decision to drive for us. He wasn't. Things always happen for a reason and this turned out for a very good reason."

Junqueira was the winner of the most recent CART event at Twin Ring-Motegi, where he scored his first career oval track victory. The former test driver for the Williams/BMW Formula One team followed by winning the pole for the biggest race in the world.

"I think he doesn't realize yet the magnitude of what he has just done," Hull said.

Last year, Junqueira and Nic Minassian of France both went through the Rookie Orientation Program for the Indy 500. After completing that process, Ganassi decided it would rather have veterans Jimmy Vasser and Stewart in the cars.

After Vasser and Stewart easily made the field on the first day of qualifications, Ganassi gave Junqueira and Minassian a second shot. Both easily qualified and Junqueira finished fifth.

"Chip and I discussed it and thought who we could get to drive the cars," Hull said. "Chip worked on his end and I worked on my end and we ended up with two top guys. By the time Bruno and Nic got back into the cars, they were so much better than the cars that they had. What Bruno learned from that was what it meant to drive in a 500-mile race."

Junqueira now has two weeks to savor the greatest moment of his career.

"I think the best thing of to get this pole is the first time in my life, very often when you win a race, you qualify Saturday and you race Sunday," he said. "Then you're going to have 24 hours of happiness, and then you go to race, you can have a longer time or you cannot have, you know. But the good thing of to win the pole here is that you are going to have two weeks, and until the race starts you're going to be really happy."

Junqueira was the first driver to make an attempt and it held up for the remainder of the seven hours of qualifying.

"I was hoping that nobody could beat me," he said. "I was not hoping for rain, because I don't like to get - because the other people do not have the opportunity. Let everybody have the opportunity, then see who is better prepared. I don't want to do well because someone didn't have the opportunity or did bad, you know. It was a really long wait.

"I went to the motor home, I went to the truck, I went to the garage, and I went to the pit lane and went back again. I couldn't really stop more than 30 minutes in one place."

The most serious assault on the pole came from Robbie Buhl, who turned a four-lap average 231.033 mph in a G Force/Infiniti.

"I was in the garage and I said, 'Ooh,'" Junqueira said. "I thought him and Helio Castroneves especially could be the two guys that could really be close."

Junqueira impressed a lot of people, most importantly his boss.

"Well, I think obviously the guy likes this place," Ganassi said. "I think we proved a year ago that with relatively little practice, he qualified. Remember, he was the fastest rookie here last year. Helio might have won the race, but Bruno was the fastest rookie, and that was with what, maybe 50 laps of practice. He didn't have very many practice laps last year and he was a second-weekend qualify. So, obviously, the guy likes the place.

"Did we face our challenges last year in Bruno's rookie year throughout the season? Certainly. But you know what, everybody likes a winner, and the guy wins races. And if he does big things at the big tracks, you've got to like him. It's that simple."