HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Still recovering from a week-old illness, defending IRL champion Sam Hornish Jr. skipped an interview and photo session earlier this week.

When Hornish's absence was announced, fellow driver Eliseo Salazar jokingly said, "Can he stay there the whole weekend?"

	Sam Hornish Jr. won the Grand Prix of Miami pole after recording a 202.884 mph lap.

Not a chance.

Hornish picked up Friday where he left off last season, winning the pole for Saturday's Grand Prix of Miami -- the IRL's season opener.

"The best cure is just being able to get out and be in the race car," said Hornish, who won last year at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Running fast helps, too. Hornish qualified with a top speed of 202.884 mph, slightly quicker than last year's Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves.

Qualifying was delayed almost three hours after Grand American series driver Jeff Clinton was killed during practice when his open-wheel, open-cockpit race car veered off course, flipped repeatedly and landed upside down.

The 38-year-old St. Louis driver died at the scene, track officials said.

Clinton, practicing for Saturday's Nextel 250 race, lost control of the car and crashed heading into Turn 1. It was the last of three accidents on a very windy day.

Donnie Beechler and rookie Tomas Scheckter crashed during IRL practice.

Beechler got out of his car without assistance but was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami for X-rays after complaining of back and neck pain.

He was scheduled to stay there overnight for observation. He was awake, alert and stable but suffering from a concussion, IRL officials said.

Scheckter, the 21-year-old son of former Formula One champion Jody Scheckter, also hit the wall but was not injured.

Scheckter, the fastest driver during practice Thursday, drove his backup car into third spot.

"This morning I had a fright with the wind, but I learned my lesson," said Scheckter, the youngest driver in the 26-car field.

Scheckter's teammate and boss, Eddie Cheever Jr., will start fourth Saturday.

"The weather is just funky this weekend," Cheever said. "This track can be very difficult. You've got days like this where the tropical wind blows through and it plays havoc with the car.

"This is like an airplane landing in a crosswind. You've got to get it just right."

Marlboro Team Penske took two of the top six spots. Castroneves will start on the outside pole, while teammate and two-time defending CART champion Gil de Ferran will start sixth.

The race will mark Team Penske's highly anticipated, full-time IRL debut. Castroneves and de Ferran are expected to battle several drivers, including Hornish, for the championship.

Last year, the 22-year-old Hornish became the youngest driver to win a major league open-wheel championship in modern American motorsports.

Hornish completed all but seven of the 2,650 possible laps in the 13 races, won nearly $1.5 million and led 764 laps -- 326 more than runner-up Buddy Lazier. Hornish had 11 top-five finishes. He wound up 14th in the Indianapolis 500, his only finish out of the top 10.

His championship season made him a legitimate IRL star. And if Friday is any indication, Hornish should have the yellow Pennzoil-sponsored car in contention for a second title.

"Last year, we set the bar higher than anybody else in the IRL," Hornish said. "We would have been ashamed with our performance over the winter if we had not done so well (in qualifying). Now we'll see how our homework went."