Ryan Briscoe took a small step to boost his IndyCar championship bid yesterday, winning the pole for the race tonight at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.

The series points leader averaged 215.364 mph, earning the top starting spot and a bonus point in the championship standings.

With three races left in the IndyCar season, Briscoe leads Dario Franchitti by five points. Briscoe will start alongside his teammate, Helio Castroneves, with Franchitti directly behind him in the third starting spot. Tony Kanaan and Graham Rahal rounded out the top five.

IndyCar driver Will Power has been released from the hospital and returned home to Indianapolis after multiple injuries in a crash in Sonoma, Calif., a week ago. Power, who fractured two vertebrae and sustained a concussion in his crash with Nelson Philippe during a practice session, is scheduled to see IndyCar series an orthopedic specialist Monday for further evaluation.

The season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be the first F1 race to start in daylight and end at night. Organizers announced that the Nov. 1 race will start in the late afternoon. Singapore played host to F1's first nighttime race last season. Abu Dhabi is the second Middle East location to have an F1 race after Bahrain. It will be the host of the race through 2015.

Qualifying for the Daytona 500 will be one day earlier than usual, a move that avoids running the session on the same day as the Super Bowl. The top two spots for NASCAR's biggest race of the year are typically determined in qualifying on the first Sunday of "Speedweeks." But the NFL moved the Super Bowl back one week in 2010. Although NASCAR's qualifying would have ended before kickoff, the move avoids any conflicts with the Super Bowl Feb. 7 in Miami.