INDIANAPOLIS -- Robbie Buhl arrived at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway early Saturday morning expecting to be in contention for his first career Indianapolis 500 pole.

He left late in the afternoon thinking about what might have been.

	Robbie Buhl explains to teammate Sarah Fisher how much he missed taking the pole away from Bruno Junqueira.

Buhl will start the 86th Indianapolis 500 from the middle of the front row after a poor first lap in qualifying left him less than two tenths of a second behind Bruno Junqueira.

Driving a Dallara/Infiniti, Buhl averaged 231.033 mph in his four-lap run around the 2½-mile oval despite a poor first lap that was nearly 2 mph off the pace.

"I took two turns to feel out the car," Buhl said. "I was still getting a sense of where the car was going to go."

An hour earlier, Buhl's Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team waved off a 229 mph attempt after three laps, gambling that a slight adjustment on his Infiniti-powered G-Force would make a big difference.

"When we waved off the first run with a speed capable of making the race, that shows you the kind of confidence we had that we could improve," Buhl said.

They did, changing the handling of the car from an oversteer on his first attempt to a slight understeer on his second. Buhl compensated for the change, but was a half-lap too late to challenge Junqueira's 231.342 mph average for the pole.

"Man, we were so close," Buhl said. "We missed it just a little and that's frustrating. We knew we had a good car. On one hand, I'd say that (I'm disappointed), on the other hand, no. You've got to respect this track."

Buhl said his team never considered waving off the second attempt, even with the knowledge that -- having just reeled off three consecutive laps at 231 mph -- he could mount a serious pole challenge if he started over.

"I wasn't thinking about that on that run," Buhl said. "Our mode was 'Robbie, just get it in the show.'"

The front-row run was the best in seven qualifying attempts for Buhl, whose best previous Indy start was fourth in 1997. It also marked a successful comeback for Buhl, who had to sit out the past two Indy Racing League events with a concussion after crashing at the conclusion of qualifying at California in March.

"I'm happy," Buhl said. "Who would have thought we'd see the speeds we've been seeing? Man, guys were waving off 228s.

"The main thing is we're in the race and we're starting up front. I'll take that any day."