Birmingham: Panther Racing qualifying report

Qualification Spin Puts Panther, Wheldon in 23rd Spot for Barber Race

National Guard Panther Racing Team Poised to Advance to Second Round, Hampered by Spinout

LEEDS, Ala. - (April 10, 2010) -- A spin during the later portion of the first round of qualifications Saturday at Barber Motorsports Park forced Dan Wheldon and his National Guard Panther Racing team into a 23rd-place qualifying position for tomorrow's Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Wheldon and his No. 4 team appeared poised to advance to the second round of qualifications prior to the incident, but because a full-course caution was called due to the incident, Wheldon's two best lap times were eliminated.

The team had made a host of changes overnight, and Wheldon's lap times were immediately within the Top Six competitors in the group at the start of qualifications. The team pitted after its second run, and made a few slight adjustments to the cars and elected to go with a fresh set of Firestone red alternate tires. As time in the session was winding down, Wheldon spun into the gravel at the hairpin, bringing out the caution flag.

The team was able to get Wheldon out for one more timed lap at the end of the session, but it was not enough time to make a serious run at advancing.

Dan Wheldon, No. 4 National Guard Dallara Honda

"It was unfortunately my mistake going into the hairpin and obviously we lost our best two lap times because of that. The National Guard Panther boys had worked really hard over night and we had such a better car today that we had yesterday, which was really good. We were certainly capable of making it through to the second round. As a team we've found a lot more speed and we're looking forward to the race -- we just have to start a bit further back than we would have liked."

-source: panther racing