Wheldon: Boycott a Team Descision

Wheldon and teammates Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti and Bryan Herta did not take part in the official mandatory autograph session after female rookie Danica Patrick was given her own separate autograph line for the second time this season.

The drivers staged their own hour-long autograph session at their teams merchandise trailer instead.

The Indy 500 winner said he intends to be at this week's autograph session at Michigan, however it will be a team decision.

Wheldon: "If my boss says 'yes', I will be there. If my boss says 'no', I won't be. As far as the autograph sessions, I'm assuming, as an Andretti Green driver, that I will be there.

"But obviously, any time that your boss either tells you 'yes' or 'no', you have to respect their decision.

"It's no different to a lot of the drivers at the Formula One race. I'm sure a lot of them wanted to race, but at the same time - in fact, a guy I know, Kimi Raikkonen, he was desperate. But when your boss tells you 'no', you're an employee of that particular team, and you have to listen to what they say."

The system of giving Patrick a separate queue was used previously at the Texas Motorspeedway. She said that she had no control of the protest and did not hold it against the four drivers.

Patrick said: "All I do is kind of show up where I'm supposed to and sign as many autographs as I can and hopefully put a couple smiles on some people's faces.

"I have nothing against the guys. I think they recognise the fact that I don't control the autograph sessions or anything like that. That's riding on the hands of the series and the tracks a lot of times."