IRL: Texas: AGR/Wheldon's qualifying report

Wheldon to start 13th at Texas

FT. WORTH, Texas (June 5, 2003) --Dan Wheldon will make his second start in the Klein Tools/Jim Beam Dallara/Honda/Firestone on Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway from the inside of the seventh row. Wheldon averaged 214.975 miles per hour around the 1.5-mile high-banked oval, which was good enough for the 13th starting spot. Rain showers delayed the start of practice on Thursday, giving the Klein Tools/Jim Beam crew less than one hour to prepare for Thursday night's qualifying session. With showers in the forecast again for Friday, Wheldon concentrated on the car's race setup during the practice, running in traffic and trying to find a solid balance. Tomas Scheckter won the "MBNA Pole Award" with an average speed of 219.300 miles per hour. His teammate Scott Dixon will start second with an average speed of 218.654 miles per hour. Tora Takagi will line up third on the grid with a lap of 218.027 miles per hour. Wheldon's teammate Tony Kanaan will start on the outside of the second row. Kanaan averaged 217.149 miles per hour. Bryan Herta will start ninth after posting a qualifying speed of 215.578 miles per hour. Practice continues tomorrow for the Bombardier 500k with the green flag scheduled to fly at 8 p.m. EDT on Saturday. The race will be broadcast live on ESPN.

Dan Wheldon #26 Klein Tools/Jim Beam Dallara/Honda/Firestone "The Klein Tools/Jim Beam crew has done a good job so far, but we just couldn't hit the qualifying setup for some reason. My two teammates, Tony (Kanaan) and Bryan (Herta), were both able to get more out of the car than I was. Our setup was exactly the same as Tony's, but we just couldn't get the speed out of it. Our line also seems to be the same, so we'll investigate and see what we can find."

                Practice                                 Qualifying
Position             15th                 Position             13th
Speed                215.668 mph          Speed                214.975 mph
Time                 24.2873 seconds      Time                 24.3656 seconds
Total Laps           20

-AGR-