Fort Worth, Texas ? Even though Danica Patrick and Dan Wheldon have made up with a long talk and a hug, those banners promoting “The Rumble at the Speedway” were still prominently displayed around the track Friday.

“That stuff’s pretty funny,” said Scott Dixon, Wheldon’s teammate. “That’s good.”

Texas Motor Speedway immediately began promoting the race as the second round between “The Phoenix Firebird” and “The Battlin’ Brit” after Patrick angrily confronted and shoved Wheldon on pit row Sunday because of their on-track collision at Milwaukee.

Wheldon and Patrick more than added to the promotion when they first arrived in Texas this week. Both had pointed comments toward the other driver, and their rivalry was still simmering.

But after meeting privately with Indy Racing League president Brian Barnhart on Thursday, they hugged and said everything was OK between them.

Still, they will have to prove it tonight when they race on the 11â2-mile Texas track, where some of the IRL’s most intense, fastest and closest races have been run. And this will be the longest race ever at Texas, with 28 more laps this year – from 200 to 228.

“It’s just going to probably be 28 laps more exciting for the fans,” Wheldon said. “It’s good for the drivers. Anytime you can make a race longer, I think we like that. But from the standpoint of the way we approach the race, I don’t think it will change anything too much.”

Everybody still expects a lot of wheel-to-wheel racing at speeds around 210 mph and another close finish. Two of the IRL’s five-closest races have been in Texas, where the last 10 races finished under green flag were decided by less than a half-second – and six of those were by less than one-tenth of a second.

“All of us drivers love these circuits,” said Dixon, the former CART driver who won the IndyCar Series title in his 2003 debut. “It’s definitely a different kind of racing than I think all of us have come from, but have learned to love. It’s great for the fans, and I think it’s going to be exciting from start to finish.”