Dan Wheldon will be gunning for a record-setting fourth consecutive victory in the Gainsco Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, one of several 1.5-mile superspeedways ruled by the 2005 IRL and Indy 500 champion.

Wheldon has captured eight of 13 career victories on 1.5-mile ovals but says the success is more a credit to his teams than his ability.

"I have always been gifted with great race cars there," said the recently married Wheldon, who is entering his third season with Chip Ganassi Racing after three at Andretti Green Racing. "I certainly am not afraid to run wheel to wheel with anybody, and I have a good feel for what you need to be quick on that style of track, but you've got to have competitive equipment."

Wheldon was optimistic of his four-peat chances by a recent Homestead test but expects stiff competition from teammate Scott Dixon as well as Penske Racing and AGR. The Englishman also isn't counting out the eight cars that have migrated from the Champ Car series (nine were slated; Graham Rahal's entry was withdrawn after a crash in practice Tuesday night) and believes their presence could factor into the outcome even if they aren't competitive in the first race since open-wheel's major circuits were unified.

"You're going to be in traffic more, and the fact that there is more cars, the risks you're going to have to play with strategy might mean where last year or the year before you dropped back to fourth or fifth (when pitting), now you might drop back to 10th or 11th," Wheldon said. "With more cars that will employ that strategy where they stay out and perhaps others come in (to pit)."

Danica Patrick, who missed a day of the Homestead test because of an illness, also expects the race to be wide open.

"It's different every year; I don't think you ever go in and say, 'At this track, it's going to be so and so,' " Patrick said. "You see how qualifying and practice shakes out. To count Dan out ever is not a good thing because he's a good driver, but we'll all be trying to win that first race."

Driver beware:  Many IRL drivers are monitoring the progress of Sam Hornish Jr. and Dario Franchitti as the series' past two champions have struggled as rookies in the Sprint Cup Series. Franchitti is outside the top 35 in points heading into qualifying Friday at Martinsville Speedway, which means he will have to make the race at the tricky 0.526-mile track on speed.

Franchitti drives for Chip Ganassi, and Wheldon believes the team owner is "about to go postal" on his Cup team if there isn't improvement soon. His advice to Franchitti if that happens? Don't be around.

"(Ganassi's) a big cuddly teddy bear, but he's driven," Wheldon said. "Chip expects his drivers to perform because he wants to win and he'll give you the equipment to do so. If he doesn't feel that the equipment is right, he'll make changes to make it right.

"If I was Dario, you have to expect the team to give you equipment, too, so he should be pushing them, but it's obviously difficult because it is a new learning curve."

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Readers: What are your thoughts as the IndyCar season dawns? Can Danica win? Will the open-wheel merger work? Against NASCAR, will it matter? Leave your opinions below.

Enlarge By Jonathan Ferrey, Getty Images Dan Wheldon secures his driving gloves during preseason testing last month at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

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