IRL: Phoenix: Dan Wheldon preview

Dan Wheldon on the Toyota Indy 300

"I'm looking forward to the race in Phoenix. I think PIR is one of the toughest tracks on the calendar, if your car is wrong, it is really wrong. The race is going to be difficult as well because even when your car is good, it is nasty. The key for me is to work on the race setup. If we can find a car that is comfortable, then I know the Klein Tools/Jim Beam crew will give me good pit stops and we'll have a strong chance in the race. The Klein Tools/Jim Beam car was good at the open test and now we need to make sure we can take what we learned to give us a car that is consistent throughout the race."

Dan Wheldon Facts

Phoenix marks Wheldon's 18th IndyCar Series start

This will be Wheldon's first race at Phoenix International Raceway

Wheldon claimed 2003 IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year honors despite starting

only 14 of 16 races

Wheldon has six IndyCar Series top-five finishes

Wheldon's third place finish at Homestead on February 29 tied his career best

finish. He also finished third at Fall Texas race in 2003

Wheldon is currently third in the IndyCar Series standings with 35 points, the

highest he has ranked in his IndyCar Series career

Wheldon has ten IndyCar Series top-10 finishes, including seven in a row dating

back to last year

Wheldon's best start in the IndyCar Series is fourth at California

Andretti Green Racing Team Facts

Andretti Green Racing has two wins and three poles in the IndyCar Series

Andretti Green is the defending winner of this event (Tony Kanaan) and led 102 of the 200 laps at Phoenix in 2003 (Kanaan - 79, Michael Andretti - 23); Kanaan also won the pole for the 2003 race

Andretti Green has had at least one car in the top-five in seven consecutive IndyCar Series events dating back to Aug. 10, 2003

AGR has fielded at least three cars in each IndyCar Series event it has entered

AGR entries have combined for 23 top-five finishes

AGR has placed two cars in the top-five of an event seven times

Tony Cotman, Team Manager, on the Toyota Indy 300

"Our goal is to build on our finish at Homestead. We had a pretty good test at Phoenix. We weren't quite there so we need to work with it a little bit. It will be a tough event but I don't see why Dan can't finish in the top three or four again. Dan's string of good finishes has to give him a lot of confidence coming into this event; eventually those finishes are going to lead to a race win. We just need to keep plugging away, because if we can finish on the podium every week, the series rewards consistency."

-AGR-