Very different results last time out for the AGR duo

The IndyCar Series' ride home from Japan was over 6000 miles and across the International Date Line, but less than a week later the cars are in Kansas Speedway for round four of the 2007 championship chase. Twin Ring Motegi winner Tony Kanaan knows his Andretti Green Racing team has not completely caught up to 2006 dominators Penske and Ganassi, but he is confident a strong run at Kansas Speedway is very possible.

"I really enjoy driving at Kansas,” said Kanaan of the 1.5mile D-shaped oval nearly on the border between the states of Kansas and Missouri.

“It's exciting side-by-side racing that has resulted in some very good finishes, including a win, for the 7-Eleven team. We're carrying a lot of momentum and confidence into this race coming off the victory at Motegi. My engineers and the entire engineering team at AGR worked incredibly hard to get our cars to the front again. We've still got some work to do but we're right there."

Keeping Kanaan from overconfidence is the fact while both Kansas and Twin Ring Motegi are 1.5mile ovals, they are vastly different race tracks. Motegi is egg shaped and the different corners at each end place a premium on handling, whereas the D-shaped Kansas track is all about flat out speed and for over a year, those tracks have belonged to Ganassi and Penske.

The season opener was on a paperclip shaped high speed oval at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and Dan Wheldon of Ganassi Racing dominated by scoring a 6.4second victory over team-mate Scott Dixon, with Penske driver Sam Hornish, Jr., a distant third.

Barring a major improvement in overall speed by Andretti Green or Panther, the results at Kansas could look very similar. Championship leader Dan Wheldon has been brutally fast all year, and would likely have won at Motegi if his radio had not failed, forcing him into an overly conservative fuel strategy.

“We are just going to keep the pressure on those leading the points and keep working on our superspeedway program,” said Dario Franchitti. “I think we will do well and hopefully have (our) car at the front at the finish. We'll go through Kansas next week and see how we do taking us into Indy."

Traditionally held over the Fourth of July weekend in the middle of summer, the Kansas race used to be an endurance test for both the drivers and fans as temperatures of at least 95 (F) and regularly in excess of 100 (F) made for an uncomfortable combination. Now being run as the lead-in to Indy, racers can look forward to a forecast that calls for high temperatures in just the low 80's on race day.

Two drivers most needing redemption at Kansas are Panther Racing's Kosuke Matsuura and Vitor Meira. Both drivers crashed at Motegi, with Meira doing it on his first hot lap in practice and Matsuura finding the wall in the second turn of the first lap.

"I'm seriously amazed by the entire Panther team,” said Meira. “Both the Delphi (Meira) and Panasonic (Matsuura) teams worked all week to make sure we were completely ready for Kansas, and now we are. The good thing is we are getting right back to racing and now Kosuke and I can get these guys the good result they deserve before we go to Indianapolis. It's weeks like this that make me very proud to be a driver for this team."

Also looking to get something going before the Month of May at Indy is Marco Andretti - the only other driver to crash in Japan - who had to stretch a little bit to find something good to say about his season so far.

“We have not had good results on the 1.5-mile ovals this season but we can take some positives from each race. At Homestead, we qualified well. At Motegi, we had a very good first stint. If we can do those things well at Kansas, we will be successful."

There are 21 cars entered for the Kansas race as Beck Motorsports and driver Alex Barron will join Marty Roth in running their second race of the season. Rookie Milka Duno is also entered and provided she gets through practice and qualifying cleanly will make her IndyCar Series debut on Sunday.

Schedule for Kansas Speedway (Round Four of 17):
All times local (Central US)

Saturday, April 28th

9:00am – 10:00am IndyCar Series Practice Group #1
10:00am – 11:00am IndyCar Series Practice Group #2
11:20am – 12:20pm IndyCar Series Practice Group #1
12:20pm – 1:20pm IndyCar Series Practice Group #2
3:15pm IndyCar Series Qualifying

Sunday, April 29th

3:30pm Kansas Lottery Indy 300 (200laps)

ORS / CAPSIS International