Kansas City, Kan. ? Nobody was really sure how newcomer Milka Duno would do in her first race in the IndyCar Series, especially after a last-place qualifying speed of 208.256 mph – far slower than the average speed of the 20 other drivers.

But Duno showed the field she was there to race in the opening laps by squeezing past Alex Barron, who was riding close to Marty Roth.

“In this sport, you must be a little crazy, no? Drive flat all the time,” said Duno, who would go on to finish 14th overall. “You take the risk, no? We (were) careful, but you take the risk, be behind the other car, drive down when the cars are going to pass you outside, or inside when you want to pass another car. You have to be just like, I don’t know, a little : very cool.”

There may be some skepticism because five of the drivers were unable even to finish the first 100 laps of the 200-lap event, and pole-sitter Tony Kanaan – who finished behind Duno – was involved in pit-road accident.

But it’s hard to argue with the fact that Duno finished 194 laps. Danica Patrick completed just 158 laps in her Indy debut at Homestead-Miami Speedway two years ago.

“First of all, our car did not have all the aerodynamic elements we need,” Duno said during her 15-minute postrace news conference. “We are waiting from England, new aerodynamic element that made (so) our car could be fast.

“The speed that we got is the maximum speed we can get with the car we have now. My engineer is fantastic. He say once we have the rest of the elements that we need, we get the extra miles.”

Duno’s addition put an unprecedented three females – along with Patrick and Sarah Fisher – in the race, and she knew that was why there was so much attention about her joining the series.

“I think it’s very attractive when in a male sport there are women,” the 34-year-old Venezuelan said. “But you have to be good. If you are not good, nobody takes care of you. You are not here making interviews if I drive bad, no?

“It’s something you have more attention because it’s a woman in a male sport. But at the same time we have more pressure, no? Because everybody is looking what the women are doing. Nobody see how many cars are behind the woman, they only see what the women are doing, no?”

¢ Pit-road problems: Following a victory last week in Japan and ending a streak of 29 races without winning the pole, Kanaan was feeling very good.

Following lap 49, he no longer felt so hot.

Kanaan’s chances for a second consecutive win were all but shot when he was clipped while attempting to enter his pit box – by Patrick, his Andretti Green Racing teammate, no less.

“I might actually be the worst person to ask because when you’re sitting in the car, you listen and you look for when to go,” Patrick said. “Kim (Green) is on the radio and ‘Poppy’ (crew chief Dave Popielarz), on my right front, he tells me when to go, too. I listened to them and they said, ‘Go.’ Obviously, T.K. was there. I feel bad because Tony had a really fast car, for sure, but it cost both of us a chance to win a race for AGR.”

The accident didn’t hinder Patrick all that much. She went on to finish seventh after starting the race in the 10th position.

However, Kanaan, who was second in the standings heading into Kansas – just three points behind winner Dan Wheldon – dropped to fifth overall now with 41-point deficit following his 15th-place finish.

“This is an extremely disappointing day,” said Kanaan, who avoided addressing the incident. “The Team 7-Eleven car was capable of winning.”

¢ Worry-free Wheldon: Not surprisingly, the change in race dates from traditional early July to late April wasn’t too big of a deal for race-winner Wheldon.

“I have to say it doesn’t matter when you race at Kansas. It’s always a good race,” Wheldon said. “It’s always very competitive. Perhaps it might not have looked like that today. Everybody was pushing hard. There’s always a great fan attendance. I think if this is the date they wanted it, it really doesn’t matter because we always put on a good show. I think all the drivers like coming here.”

Before even taking questions in the postrace press conference, runner-up finisher Dario Franchitti approved of the change by simply saying, “I definitely like having it in April.”