Franchitti will start from the pole for the fifth time this season.
Scott Dixon was second and Ryan Briscoe third in qualifying for the season-ending IndyCar race to be run Saturday at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Franchitti got a bonus point by winning the pole and is four points behind first-place Dixon in the race for the IndyCar Series championship.
"I was pleasantly surprised since we hadn't run quite well in practice this morning," Franchitti said after qualifying at the1.5-mile track.
Copyright 2009 by United Press International.