Wilson switched to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing this year and finished second in two of the first four races of the 2010 season, regularly beating the heavy favorites from Team Penske and Target Chip Ganassi Racing.

"It was fun to pass Will [Power, the championship leader of Team Penske] after all the success he's had this year," Wilson said after his second-place run in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. "That made me feel good, and I think it was just a very positive day for everyone at Dreyer & Reinbold. We've worked really hard, and we keep making improvements."

After helping to transform Coyne's team from a field filler into a winner, Wilson was expected to stay on with DCR in 2010. But key engineering departures and Coyne's desire to lock Wilson into a multiyear deal caused J-Wil to look elsewhere.

He landed with Dreyer & Reinbold, the team established by Indianapolis car dealer Dennis Reinbold and former IRL driver Robbie Buhl in 2000. And although D&R has vaulted from the midfield to the front at the four road races to start the IndyCar Series season, Coyne has dropped to the very back with drivers Milka Duno and Alex Lloyd.

"When I went to the [D&R] workshop for the first time about four months ago, I saw everything they were working on and all the potential there," Wilson said. "It's a great team, and everything is coming together. A little bit of continuity is going to go a long way because I think we have all the right parts and all the right pieces to the puzzle -- the personnel and the work that they do. It's just going to take a little bit of time for us all to get used to each other.

"We go through the weekend and develop the car and think, 'If only we could start the weekend like this!' That's where the continuity is really going to come in."

Buhl won Dreyer & Reinbold's first IndyCar Series race, but Wilson's pair of seconds matched the closest the team has come to returning to Victory Circle. After running a rotation system of drivers last year that included Duno and Tomas Scheckter, D&R is sticking to a core two-driver lineup of Wilson and fellow Briton Mike Conway, who is in his second year of racing Indy cars.

Conway shined in practice and qualifying at Barber Motorsports Park, where he lined up on the outside of the front row. He finished ninth in the race, two positions behind Wilson, and has finished in the top 10 in three of four starts this year.

Wilson managed to come home second at Long Beach despite losing a front wing when his car was clipped by backmarker Lloyd.

"I had the door slammed in my face," Wilson said. "I made a move to back out of it, but the guy came right across the apex and clipped the curb even. I was pretty frustrated by what I thought was poor racing, and we lost the front nose. Everyone on the crew did a great job switching out the nose, and we did our pit stop at the same time. Then it was tight until the end on fuel, but we managed to make it and actually ran out of fuel on the in-lap.

"All weekend I said the Z-Line Designs car has been really quick. We had the potential to win this race. Today we were in the battle and unfortunately we didn't get first, but it was a good day."

Wilson, an acknowledged road-course ace, will begin his acid test at Kansas Speedway when the IndyCar Series transitions into a series of oval races. He says he's ready for the challenge.

"I'm really looking forward to the ovals," Wilson said. "I think we have an opportunity to be close to the front -- maybe not challenging for the win, but I think we can be much further up. I have a lot of confidence. I know what I want from the car and how to get it.

"I'm looking forward to learning from Dreyer & Reinbold. They've done a lot of oval racing, and my engineer [Matt Curry] is more in tune with the oval racing. That's where his background is, and I think the two of us make a good combination. A lot to learn, but I'm looking forward to it."