Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Newman/Haas team enters two cars in Indy 500

Wednesday, April 13, 2005 | 9:18 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Reigning Champ Car World Series champion Sebastien Bourdais will attempt to make his first start in the Indianapolis 500 next month as Newman/Haas Racing has filed its first two-car entry for the race since 1995.

Bourdais will drive the No. 37 Team Centrix Panoz/Honda and Bruno Junqueira will drive the No. 36 Team Centrix Panoz/Honda for Newman/Haas Racing. Centrix Financial also serves as an associate sponsor on the team's two cars in the Champ Car World Series.

Junqueira will attempt to make his fourth start in the Indy 500 and second for Newman/Haas Racing. He posted his best finish in the 500 last season, when he qualified fourth and finished fifth. Junqueira won the pole at Indy in 2002 while driving for Target Chip Ganassi Racing.

"We are excited that our association with Centrix Financial has enabled us to compete at the Indianapolis 500 again," team co-owner Carl Haas said in a release.

Haas owns the Champ Car team with award-winning actor and road racer Paul Newman.

The addition of Bourdais and Junqueira to the Indy 500 field raised the number of driver entries to 33. Bourdais, who won the season-opening Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach last weekend and has 11 career victories in Champ Car, will be one of eight race rookies in the 500 field this year.

NO REST: Immediately after winning Sunday on the streets of Long Beach, Bourdais flew to Texas to practice for Friday's International Race of Champions event at Texas Motor Speedway.

Bourdais turned his first laps on the 1.5-mile, high-banked oval Monday and came away impressed.

"This is my first time here at Texas," Bourdais said. "For me, it's a bit like a mini-Daytona; it's quite fun and a pretty smooth racetrack. It's going to be quite a challenge to work with two grooves. We did that a little, some side-by-side racing with Buddy (Rice), and it was enjoyable.

"It's quite different than what I've been doing over the last week, for sure. The IROC cars are about twice the weight, or more, of my Champ Car, the suspension, the movement and the seating position is so different, but it has four wheels and a steering wheel, which means I'm have a great time."

Bourdais was involved in a multi-car wreck late in the opening race of the 2005 IROC series, at Daytona International Speedway, and finished last among the 12 drivers.

WHELDON ON TV: Indy Racing League driver Dan Wheldon, who won the St. Petersburg Grand Prix earlier this month, will make an appearance Thursday night on the ABC reality television series "Extreme Makeover."

Wheldon is the first professional athlete to make a guest appearance on the series, where people change their looks in an effort to transform their lives and to make their dreams come true.

OUTLAWS UPDATE: Steve Kinser led all 30 laps and captured the 516th World of Outlaws feature event of his career Saturday night at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.

Kinser, who has 31 feature wins at Eldora, regained sole possession of the points lead with the victory. He leads Craig Dollansky by 16 points and Kraig Kinser by 72. Donny Schatz, Jason Meyers and Danny Lasoski all are within 140 points of Kinser in the standings.