KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Less than a week past her historic first IndyCar victory, Danica Patrick put away her smile and went back to work on the racetrack Saturday, qualifying third for the IRL race at Kansas Speedway.
While Target Chip Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon swept the front row in qualifying on the 1.5-mile oval, Patrick was again the focal point of attention as she backed up her big day last Sunday in Japan with a solid run.
“We arrived here with a good car and we had a good run here today,” said Patrick, who had her game face back on after a week of celebrating her first win in 50 IndyCar Series starts. “The car is really well-balanced.
“Hopefully, we can get out in front of the red and white (Target) cars,” she added.
Dixon, who won from the pole in the season-opener last month at Homestead-Miami Speedway and finished third in Japan, took the top spot early in the Kansas qualifying with a four-lap average of 213.956 mph.
Patrick nearly knocked the New Zealander off the top spot with her consistent run of 213.225, but she was bumped back to the second row by Wheldon, the last of 27 drivers to make a qualifying run. His average was 213.641.
“The Team Target cars were very quick right off the trailer,” said Dixon, who earned his 10th career pole and second at Kansas. “We didn’t have to do too much to them.
“These cars are very critical to aerodynamics, especially when you’re by yourself. In a pack, it doesn’t show that much.”
The new qualifying format for all IRL ovals — used at the Indianapolis 500 for years — determines starting positions by the average of four green-flag laps. The unique and difficult qualifying procedure turned things somewhat topsy-turvy behind the leaders.
Tomas Scheckter, making his first start of 2008, was fourth, followed by the Vision Racing cars of A.J. Foyt IV and Ed Carpenter and, in the biggest surprise of the day, 45-year-old Canadian Marty Roth, who started 19th here last year.
Meanwhile, Helio Castroneves, who finished second to Patrick in Japan, was eighth, while his Penske Racing teammate Ryan Briscoe was ninth and former series champion and Patrick’s Andretti Green Racing teammate Tony Kanaan qualified a disappointing 11th.
The first practice was delayed for nearly an hour by cold temperatures and the day remained cooler than normal, with highs in the 50s.
“Today was pretty interesting with the cold temperatures this morning,” Castroneves said. “We couldn’t seem to find the kind of speed the leaders had in practice, so we made some big changes right before qualifying that seemed to help us gain a bit of speed.
“The Team Penske car is solid in traffic and we’re not too far off on speed, so I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to bring home another solid result tomorrow.”
Kanaan wasn’t happy with his performance.
“As a team, we didn’t do a very good job today. … We had issues with the car all day and we didn’t get to run very many laps at all. The car is fine, it’s just slow,” the Brazilian driver said.
“It doesn’t matter too much where you start on an oval track,” Dixon said. “Dan proved that at Homestead (where he started last after crashing in qualifying and wound up third). “It’s going to be interesting.”
Asked if he expects Patrick — whose first victory came in her 50th IndyCar Series start — to be a factor on Sunday, Wheldon said, “I think she’s going to be competitive. To be quite honest, I expect Kanaan to be the leader of that team. You expect her to be fast, but Tony is the ringleader of that team.”
Dixon echoed his teammate, adding, “If she’s got a good car, she’ll always be somebody to deal with. She’s obviously got the speed.”
But he noted that several of the drivers who qualified in the top half of the field could fade quickly once the 300-mile RoadRunner Turbo Indy 300 begins.
“You can be fast for four laps, but a 50-lap stint can be quite a different thing,” Dixon added.
Among the nine teams making the transition from the now-defunct Champ Car World Series to IndyCar, HVM Racing’s rookie E.J. Viso was fastest, qualifying 17th, just ahead of Will Power, who won the final Champ Car event last week in Long Beach, Calif.
Rookie Mario Moraes, driving for another former Champ Car team, crashed in the opening practice session Saturday and missed time trials. But his Dale Coyne Racing team was repairing the car and Moraes was expected to start at the rear of the field on Sunday.
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