Print

Mail

wiki links

Wheldon captures third straight IRL Homestead race

Dan Wheldon celebrates winning the IRL Indy 300 on Saturday at the Homestead-Miami Superspeedway in Homestead, Florida. PHOTO: AFP

Sweeping to three wins in a row at Homestead-Miami Speedway is fine, but Dan Wheldon had barely climbed out of the cockpit after his season-opening victory on Saturday night before he started thinking about another race he wants to win.

"This is step one toward the Indianapolis 500," said Wheldon, who won both the 500 and the IndyCar Series championship in 2005. "I'm all about the Indianapolis 500; nothing else matters to me. But to get three consecutive wins on the same speedway is a big deal, too."

The Englishman, who started from the pole, fought off an early challenge from Sam Hornish Jr., another three-time Homestead winner, and easily overcame a bad pit stop to drive away with the 12th victory of his career.

"It's a great way to open up the season," said Wheldon, who won here in 2005 with Andretti Green Racing and then again last year in his first race with current team Target Chip Ganassi Racing.

"We worked very hard over the winter to improve on what we started last year. I think I underestimated how difficult the transition would be," he said.

Wheldon has led 345 of the last 600 laps on the 12.4km Homestead oval. It's the first time in the 12-year history of the IndyCar Series that a driver has won three straight races at the same track.

A crash involving Jeff Simmons, Kosuke Matsuura and A.J. Foyt IV brought out the last of three caution flags of the night on lap 92 of the 200-lap race. On the ensuing pit stops by the leaders, a crewman on Wheldon's No. 10 Ganassi team dropped a lugnut and the car came down on the speed gun.

By the time Wheldon got back on track, he had fallen from the lead to ninth, but he knifed through traffic after the green flag waved again on lap 109.

He picked his way past the cars in front of him and regained the lead for good on lap 120.
This story has been viewed 1355 times.