June 04, 2009
Dan Wheldon led the way for Panther Racing as the IndyCar Series' Texas weekend got underway with floodlit evening practice on Thursday night. Like most of the frontrunners, Wheldon set his best time (a 24.2744-second lap) very early on, and then spent most of the night focusing on race preparation as drivers simulated the type of slipstreaming pack racing that will dominate Saturday evening's race