Dan Wheldon paced the field during the first IndyCar Series practice session for Sunday's Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 presented by Mr. Clean at the Chicagoland Speedway source: irl.racing-live.com Running in slightly different livery as sponsor Jim Beam is focusing on their "Jim Beam Black" brand of bourbon, Wheldon covered the 1.5mile egg shaped oval in 25.2319seconds (216.868 miles per hour). Currently holding a 79 point lead over teammate Tony Kanaan, it would take a complete collapse by Wheldon over the final three races to lose the championship. In fact, the most points anyone can earn in an IndyCar Series event is 53, with last position getting 12 points. Chasing Wheldon at Chicagoland was Sam Hornish, Jr., who ran the second quickest time overall and the fastest for a Toyota powered car. Hondas took six of the top ten spots, with Wheldon joined by Vitor Meira (3rd), Roger Yasukawa (4th), Kosuke Matsuura (5th), Tony Kanaan (6th) and Dario Franchitti (8th). Scott Dixon's Ganassi Toyota continued to show some improvement on the high speed tracks by timing in 7th. Obviously still down on horsepower, Dixon is showing some improvement on, though Ganassi Racing is still crashing cars at an unprecedented rate. The Panther Racing Chevrolet's were led by Buddy Lazier who returns for his first race since running sixth at Kentucky Speedway. Lazier's car carries special logo's this weekend focusing on the Red Cross as the team works to raise awareness and funds for the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. Chicagoland : Practice 1 results 1 26 Wheldon, Dan D/H/F 25.2319seconds/216.868 mph 2 6 Hornish Jr, Sam D/T/F 25.3878/215.537 3 17 Meira, Vitor P/H/F 25.3990/215.442 4 24 Yasukawa, Roger D/H/F 25.4103/215.346 5 55 Matsuura, Kosuke P/H/F 25.4198/215.265 6 11 Kanaan, Tony D/H/F 25.4219/215.247 7 9 Dixon, Scott P/T/F 25.4292/215.186 8 27 Franchitti, Dario D/H/F 25.4346/215.140 9 95 Lazier, Buddy D/C/F 25.4711/214.832 10 4 Scheckter, Tomas D/C/F 25.4810/214.748 11 33 Briscoe, Ryan P/T/F 25.4819/214.741 12 8 Sharp, Scott P/H/F 25.5647/214.045 13 15 Rice, Buddy P/H/F 25.5722/213.982 14 83 Carpentier, Patrick D/T/F 25.5851/213.874 15 16 Patrick, Danica P/H/F 25.6013/213.739 16 14 Foyt IV, AJ D/C/F 25.6048/213.710 17 7 Herta, Bryan D/H/F 25.6053/213.706 18 10 Lazier, Jaques P/T/F 25.6152/213.623 19 91 Kite, Jimmy D/T/F 25.6333/213.472 20 3 Castroneves, Helio D/T/F 25.6419/213.401 21 2 Enge, Tomas D/C/F 25.7000/212.918 22 51 Barron, Alex D/T/F 25.7279/212.687 23 20 Carpenter, Ed D/T/F 26.0299/210.220
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