WHELDON SPEEDS TO TOP TEN QUALIFICATION EFFORT AT IOWA SPEEDWAY BULLRING

Panther’s Drive Looks for Second Victory on Iowa’s Tight Bullring Oval

NEWTON, Iowa - (June 19, 2010) – National Guard Panther Racing driver Dan Wheldon will start 10th following qualifications Saturday for tomorrow’s Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway. This will be the fourth IZOD IndyCar Series race on the 7/8-mile oval, and Wheldon will be looking to capture his second victory on the exciting short oval.

Wheldon’s four-lap qualification average of 179.902 mph was comprised of lap speeds of 179.353, 180.036, 180.105, and 180.115 mph.

“I was a little surprised honestly about the speed because I thought we would be quicker than that, but we’ve got a great racecar that we worked really hard on today,” Wheldon said. “The car was really stable, and our racecar is much better than the position we qualified. Everything we do is all about the races and we’re well prepared and continue to work hard and the guys have made some brilliant pit stops this year, so we’ll move up.”

The Iowa event last year was one of Panther’s strongest during the 2009 season, Wheldon was able to lead the race and eventually finished fourth place after starting in sixth. In the inaugural race here in 2007, then-Panther driver Vitor Meira led 71 laps and appeared poised to win the race until a suspension failure as he approached pit lane for his final stop of the race.

In 2008, Wheldon captured his 15th career IndyCar Series victory at Iowa – and donated all of his race winnings to victims of a flood that had devastated the area prior to the race weekend.

“This was a disappointing reflection of how hard the National Guard Panther Racing boys have been working, and we’ll certainly take a look at this and move on,” Wheldon said. “As I said in race trim the car was incredibly good, and we’re all excited and we’re going to try and break into victory lane. It’s a long race, a physical race, and as always you can never count out the No. 4 National Guard car.”

Team Penske driver Will Power won the pole position and will be joined on the front row by Ganassi Racing driver Scott Dixon.

The IZOD IndyCar Series will have a weekend off before traveling to Iowa Speedway for the Iowa Corn Indy 250, which will be broadcast live on Sunday, June 20th on VERSUS, with additional coverage provided by www.indycar.com, the IMS Radio Network and XM Channel 145 and Sirius channel 211.

www.danwheldon.com - www.pantherracing.com – www.NationalGuard.com