Wheldon of Target Chip Ganassi Racing heads into Sunday's Detroit Indy Grand Prix at the Raceway on Belle Isle Park with a six-point lead over Andretti Green Racing's Kanaan.
"Everyone is focusing on Helio (Castroneves) and (Scott) Dixon and we have another championship going on between me and Dan," said Kanaan, the 2007 Detroit Indy Grand Prix winner. "It's six points and we only have two races to go. It's pretty tight and I'm behind him. So hopefully I'll catch him."
Both Wheldon and Kanaan cannot catch the two front-runners but they could play the spoiler's role for Castroneves, who trails Dixon by 43 points.
"I know that," said Kanaan, a close friend of fellow Brazilian Castroneves. "Right now it's their championship. So I'm going to try and not get in the way, and benefit one or the other.
"But I'm also here to win races. So if I can, I'm going to take it away from them."
Kanaan will start from the eighth spot after clocking a lap of 101.756 mph.
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TAGLIANI IN: Former Champ Car driver Alex Tagliani was brought in Saturday by Conquest Racing to replace injured Brazilian driver Enrique Bernoldi.
After running two practice sessions Friday, the team decided to sit Bernoldi, who suffered a torn ligament in his left thumb last Saturday at Infineon. He was injured during a spin caused by a suspension failure on his car.
"I couldn't give my all because of my left hand," Bernoldi said. "I was turning into the pits with just one hand on the steering wheel and was unable to do my best."
Tagliani originally was scheduled to compete this weekend in a NASCAR Canadian Tire event in Hagersville, Ontario. Previously, he competed in the Champ Car World Series for eight seasons, earning four pole positions and one win in 133 starts.
He did struggle in Saturday's qualifying, spinning the car out early in the session. His lap of 97.233 mph was the 21st fastest of the day.
"There's a lot to learn in so little time," Tagliani said. "I was rusty a little bit getting back behind the wheel of an open-wheel car. But I feel good in the car."
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SERVIA SHINES: Oriol Servia is new to the IndyCar Series this year, but he looked like an old pro during qualifying.
The 34-year-old Spaniard had the third-best qualifying lap of 102.136 mph. Earlier this season, Servia also started from the No. 3 spot at Edmonton and finished fifth.
"I always find that here you have to push so hard to qualify," said Servia, who drove on the Detroit course in a Champ Car in 2000 and 2001. "Obviously we didn't have enough for Scott (Dixon) at all. I don't know how he did that lap, but I'm just very happy for the team to be third again.
"Every session, we're closing up the gap. I feel like if this was a 38-race NASCAR season, we'd be right up there with (Dixon and Castroneves)."
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SPARK PLUGS: If Castroneves scores the maximum number of points in Sunday's race and the Sept. 7 finale at Chicagoland Speedway, Dixon only needs to score 62 points -- an average finish of 4.5 -- to become a two-time champ. ... Marty Roth, who had a trying couple of days on the track, withdrew from Sunday's race after assessing the damage to his car, which he crashed during Saturday's warmup session, an IndyCar spokesman said. The Canadian spun out four times during Friday's practice sessions and had the slowest lap of the day. His departure leaves a starting field of 25 cars. ... Five cars either spun or brushed the walls hard during qualifying. Tagliani and Bruno Junqueira each had half-spins, while Tomas Scheckter, Will Power and Wheldon each had contact with the wall and suffered damage to their cars. Scheckter was unable to record a qualifying lap and will start from the back of the field. ... Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe qualified fifth, marking the 11th time this season he has started in the top five. He is the only driver to compete in the Firestone Fast Six in all six road/street course events this year.
Another cautionary tale for IndyCar
Wheldon steps out of car, onto field
Scott Dixon on schedule for another title
