Wheldon, Patrick still in spotlight

The season finale will be raced today at California Speedway.
FONTANA, Calif. (AP) -- Dan Wheldon and Danica Patrick have been the featured drivers throughout the Indy Racing League season, so it's only appropriate the same two remain in the spotlight heading into the season finale at California Speedway.
Wheldon, who won the Indianapolis 500 and already has wrapped up the season championship, still has a few more records in sight, while rookie sensation Patrick is still looking for her first win.
"I think California is going to be a really good race because obviously the championship has been decided, but second, third and fourth are up for grabs," Wheldon said.
"There's going to have to be some big things happen for those positions to change," Wheldon said. "Then I think you have the fifth through 10th pretty close. I think everybody's going to be going for broke."
If qualifying is any indication, it will be very competitive today. Dario Franchitti, Wheldon's Andretti Green Racing teammate, won the pole with a lap of 219.398 mph, a time of 32.9 seconds. All 22 drivers in the field were separated by just over a second.
Patrick wound up fourth at 218.199, while Wheldon, who still has plenty of motivation to finish the season with a win, qualified seventh at 217.702.
He already has set records for most wins in a season with six and has matched the mark for consecutive wins with three in a row. In today's Toyota Indy 400, the 27-year-old Englishman can add more records.
Close to record
Wheldon has led at least one lap in each of the 14 races this season. If he leads one lap today, he will break the record set in 2003 by Scott Dixon.
The next record would be more difficult. Wheldon needs to lead 145 of the 200 laps to break the single-season mark of 889 set last season by Tony Kanaan.
He is just $23,636 shy of Buddy Rice's IRL record of $2,699,040 in season earnings, set last year. Wheldon already is assured of breaking that record with the $1 million check he will receive at Monday night's awards ceremony as the 2005 champion.
Danica Mania
Patrick began the season as a virtual unknown and quickly moved into the public eye with some solid driving. Then she became a household name by nearly winning the pole and the race at Indy, sparking a rage called "Danica Mania."
Suddenly, she was everywhere -- on TV talk shows, on the cover of magazines, on the lips of comedians.
It didn't hurt her image when she won three poles after her Indy performance, but the next obvious step for the 23-year-old racer was to win, and that hasn't happened.
"The most magical and perfect way to end this season would be to win," Patrick said.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.