Dan Wheldon earned his first Top Five finish with Panther Racing at the Grand Prix of Long Beach, where the National Guard driver made a long climb from his 14th-place qualification spot and into a fifth place finish. The result, his first Top Five of the season, catapults the team into seventh place in the IndyCar Series standings, just 35 points out of the championship lead.
During his accent to the front of the grid, Wheldon was able to avert two incidents that nearly cost the team its finish. The first, on Lap 24, saw Turn 11 of the street course turn into a parking lot, as Wheldon was the last on the scene of a pileup that included Mario Moraes, Justin Wilson, Darren Manning and Hideki Mutoh. His National Guard car was undamaged in the incident, and after some assistance from the Delphi Safety Team, the team was fortunate enough to come away with no damage or lost laps. He returned to the field in 12th position after a restart on Lap 28.
Wheldon climbed to ninth prior to a caution on Lap 39 for contact involving Ed Carpenter and the team elected not to make a pit stop during the cleanup. It was the team’s decision to pit on Lap 51, just two laps prior to another full-course caution, that put a Top Five finish within sight. Technical Director David Cripps was repeating to his driver over the radio that he must conserve fuel to make it to the checkered flag, but Moraes brought out the event’s final yellow flag, under which Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe had contact, that allowed the team to race until the end.
Click Here For More IndyCar Photos
With under five laps remaining, one final incident was averted when Andretti Green Racing driver Marco Andretti foolishly attempted to pass the No.4 car on the inside of Turn 11, making slight contact with Wheldon’s right-rear wheel. There was no apparent damage to the National Guard machine, and the former Indianapolis 500 winner was able to pull away from Andretti by over a second for his 55th career Top Five finish.
The result was Panther’s first Top Five finish since Kentucky Speedway last season, and was Wheldon’s best finish on a street course since a podium finish at Belle Isle in 2007.
The IndyCar Series will travel to Kansas Speedway next weekend for the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300.
| 
|