European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 27, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday March 27 2007 stars and stripes Page 29 Wheldon wins third straight at Homestead by Mike Harris the associated press Homestead Fla winning three in a Row at Homestead Miami Speedway is Fine but Dan Wheldon was barely out of the cockpit after his season opening Victory saturday night before he was flunking about another race he wants More this is step one toward the Indianapolis 500 said Wheldon who won the 500 and the indy car series championship in 2005 in All about the Indianapolis 500 Noth ing else matters to me but to get three consecutive wins on the same Speedway is a big Deal too the englishman who started from the pole fought off an Early Challenge from Sam Hornish or another three time Homestead Winner and overcame a bad pit Stop to drive away with the 12th Victory of his career its a great Way to open up the season said Wheldon who won Here in 2005 with Andretti Green racing and then again last year in his first race with Chip Ganassi racing we worked very hard Over the Winter to improve on what we started last year i think i underestimated How difficult the transition would be last year but this is All preparation for the India Napolis 500 Chip is really determined to win that race this year i dont know Many people As determined As i am to win that race we even talked about that in our pre season team meetings Wheldon has led 345 of the last 600 laps on the 15mile Homestead Oval its the first time in the 12year history of the indy car series that a Driver has won three straight races at a track a crash involving Jeff Simmons Kosuke Matsuura and a j Foyt in brought out the last of three cautions on Lap 92 of the 200lap race during the ensuing pit stops j Pat England Dan Wheldon celebrates saturday after winning the girls pm satellite radio indy 300 in Homestead a the race was the first of the season for the irl by the leaders a crewman on Wheldon team dropped a lug nut and the car came Down on the Speed gun by the time Wheldon got Back on the track he had fallen from the Lead to ninth Hornish who stalled during the same pit Stop fell to seventh but it was Wheldon who knifed through traffic after the Green Flag waved again on Lap 109 he picked his Way past the cars in front of him and regained the Lead for Good on Lap 120 passing teammate Scott Dixon Wheldon who led All but 21 laps pulled away to beat Dixon by 6499 seconds about a Quarter of a Lap it was the biggest margin of Victory in two years i would have to say its maturity and Confidence in the car Wheldon said of his charge to the front i think just with experience you understand the circumstances i knew i had a Good car under me and i still had about 90 laps so i knew we could get Over it even Dixon the 2003 series Champion was impressed by his teammates charge he was Quick Man no doubt about it Dixon said the car was just very fast i know our cars Are very similar in setup but i dont know if it was driving style or what he was just quicker Hornish the reigning series Champion finished third followed by Vitor Meira and Tony Kanaan the Only other Drivers on the Lead Lap de Carpenter Stepson of series founder and ceo Tony George ran with the leaders most of the night before finish ing a Lap Down in sixth the two Ganassi Drivers and Hornish and Penske racing teammate Helio Cas Tro Neves dominated in 2006 winning 14 of 16 races and saturday night looked much the same although Castr Neves ran into handling problems at the end and finished a Lap Down in ninth the race was supposed to be a new Start for Andretti Green racing which struggled last season after dominating the series the two previous years but Kanaan was the Only one of the agr Drivers who didst run into problems Marco Andretti last years top Rookie finished last after his car had a mysterious mechanical problem Ive never been so scared in my life in an indy car the 20yearold Andretti said teammate Dario Franchitti  quite run with the leaders finishing a Lap Down in seventh and Danica Patrick in her first Start with agr was running eighth before she spun and hit the Wall while entering the pits for what was sup posed to be her final Stop she wound up 14th the race started nearly an hour late be cause of a Brief rainstorm Light rain also brought out one of the caution flags the series moves to the Road course at st Petersburg Fla next sunday for the second of 17 races Edwards holds off Kenseth to win Busch race by Jenna Fryer the associated press Bristol Tenn Carl Edwards held off hard charging teammate Matt Kenseth Over the final dozen laps to win the Busch series race at Bristol motor Speedway on saturday it was a typical crash filled Bristol race with 12 cautions for 103 laps and one re Flag Stop Page Lascar also confused things with a miscue on pit Road that confused most of the Field and gave Edwards Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman a second Chance Edwards used that free pit Stop to get fresh tires and drive away to his first Victory of the season Kenseth  get close enough to move him and Edwards beat him to the line by 0260 seconds i just cant thank Matt Kenseth enough for racing me that clean Edwards said Hes so great Here and it meant the world to beat him Kenseth said he tried to get past Edwards earlier but proudly serving the military for Over 10 years if you can dream it we can build it 800hightechcom  and  Force the Issue this place is Tough its kind of a Giveand take race track and sometimes i struggle when to give and when to take he said f got under Carl two or three times and lifted his left rear tire he chopped me pretty Good so i had to get it out of the Gas i could have stayed in and got him turned around but i got out of it a caution came out with 117 laps to go and Lascar told its officials to open pit Road but pit Road was closed when Busch and Edwards the leaders passed the Entrance they didst Stop but pit Road opened seconds later and the rest of the Field did Stop Lascar blamed that on a delay in changing the lights on pit Road and quickly reviewed it officials then allowed Busch Edwards and Newman to pit and line up where they were originally running when the caution came out it was a mistake that Lascar made in this Case president Mike Helton said and theres no absolute fix for that so we Felt like the most fair thing to do was to simply say pit Road is open you can pit if you want to you dont have to theres no absolute clean fix John Carl Edwards does a Back flip at the finish line saturday after winning the Busch series Sharpie mini 300 in Bristol Tenn but we Felt like that was the most fair fix not everyone agreed i dont have any idea what happened Kenseth said the first time by it was closed Lascar said to open it Over the scanner but were still supposed to pay at Tention to the Light the Light was clearly clearly red no arguing that it was closed it was red i dont understand Why they got their spots Back had Lascar not allowed the cars to pit without repercussions everyone who did pit Likely would have passed them soon after the restart and had the three Drivers pitted without Nastars bless ing All would have been shuffled to the Tail end of the Lead Lap they could have just As easily had told us were just going to have to Deal with it Edwards said i appreciate Lascar help ing us out there Edwards the Busch series Points Leader led 147 laps Busch led 89 and seemed to have the Best car but was spun out twice once while leading the second spin came with 77 laps Tigo in the race when he was running second and Edwards was thirds the leaders closed in on the lapped traffic they had Little room to race and Edwards ran into the Back of Busch it dropped Busch Back to 12th and he had to fight his Way Back to third he was livid after with most of his rage directed at Mike Wal lace in not upset at Carl one bit lapped cars dont give Way to the leaders when there already a Lap Down and going their second Lap Down and Wallace was pathetic today Busch fumed