Wheldon's quickness on the nine ovals quickly builds points cource: indycar.com - Dave Lewandowski Dan Wheldon's IndyCar Series championship was built on superspeedways - ovals 1.5 miles and longer - where the No. 26 Klein Tools/Jim Beam Dallara/Honda/Firestone picked up speed and the driver collected first-place checks. With nine of the 17 events on superspeedways, including the granddaddy of them all the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, consistent high finishes were rewarded with corresponding points. Top-10 finishes in every speedway event, including four victories, accumulated into a points mountain with Wheldon the king. He won the first three superspeedway events of the season - at Homestead-Miami, Twin Ring Motegi and Indianapolis - which gave him a decided advantage to kick off the championship race. He added a victory at Chicagoland in September. Other victories on his march to the title were on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., in April and the 1-mile Pikes Peak International Raceway in August. Only once did Wheldon finish lower than he started a race (Kentucky -- placed third and started second). "I realized the dream in winning the Indianapolis 500," Wheldon said. "That's something that's very dear to my heart. I think that's obviously the best, the biggest and probably the most fun race in the world. I went through every different emotion I could possibly have gone through that month. "Top it off by winning the championship. It's a very, very difficult championship to win, as there are some incredibly talented people involved. It continues to go from strength to strength. I think to win a championship in this day and age of the IRL is a good accomplishment for everybody involved." For his accomplishments on the larger ovals, Wheldon receives the facetious gold medal as "Superspeedway Driver of the Year." See a complete recap of the superspeedway season at indycar.com
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