Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s (TCGR) Scott Dixon started from pole, led 58 of 228 laps and claimed his third win of the season at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday night. The race ended under caution after Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay made contact while battling behind Dixon for second place with five laps remaining. Dixon was a contender from the drop of the green flag in the No.9 Target car, running in the top-three for the majority of the event. Flawless pit work again was the theme for the Target team as Dixon was able to stay out front and survive eight caution periods for 52 laps. The turning point of the race came when he passed Andretti on lap 222 – just before Andretti and Hunter-Reay tangled and brought the race to its conclusion under the yellow flag.
Results from Texas
1. Scott Dixon, No.9 Target Honda Dallara 2. Helio Castroneves, No.3 Honda Dallara 3. Ryan Briscoe, No.6 Honda Dallara 4. Dan Wheldon, No.10 Target Honda Dallara
Terry Blount of ESPN thinks...the IndyCar Series needs to take a hint from NASCAR on this one and think about a green-white-checkered overtime finish.
"I was thinking about that," said Helio Castroneves, who finished second. "I definitely had the car to make something happen. But we can't compare ourselves to what NASCAR does. It would be a mess."
If ever a driver was due for luck, it was Ryan Briscoe. Over the last two weeks, he hasn't hesitated cashing in. After an early season of bad breaks, culminating at the Indianapolis 500 with his now infamous contact with Danica Patrick while exiting the pits (which knocked them both out of the race), Briscoe was in desperate need of something positive to happen. His racing fate changed June 1 at The Milwaukee Mile when he won his first-ever IndyCar Series race. Briscoe finishes third in Fort Worth.
Dixon's teammate Dan Wheldon rebounded from a practice accident in the No.10 Polaroid car, made up seven positions on a sore ankle and finished fourth. Wheldon’s weekend started with a practice crash on Friday which sent him into the turn four wall and eliminated the No.10 team’s primary car. The team rallied to prepare the backup car for qualifying and Wheldon came from the infield care center to qualify the car 11th. Wheldon had moved up to fourth by just lap 11 but had to restart near the rear of the field after Briscoe stopped in his pit stall under yellow. Briscoe would serve a penalty for the incident and Wheldon managed to rebound up through the field to finish fourth.
"I am really looking forward to going back to Belle Isle. I have driven on the course they are going to use for the race. It is a difficult course and it is going to be very important to stay out of trouble. Since this is an event that Roger Penske has been involved with, you know it is going to be a good event because of his attention to detail."
· This is the inaugural event at The Raceway at Belle Isle for the IndyCar Series and the first open wheel race since 2001. · Franchitti has four top-five finishes in five starts at Belle Isle including a win in 1999. · Franchitti led 62 laps on his way to his 12th top-five finish of the season at Infineon Raceway where he also captured his third pole of the season. · He is one of two IndyCar Series drivers to finish 14 of 15 races in the top 10 this season and has led more laps than any other driver.
SONOMA, Calif. (Aug. 26, 2007) - Canadian Club driver Dario Franchitti finished third in Sunday's Motorola Indy 300 at Infineon Raceway. Franchitti now trails Scott Dixon by four points in the IndyCar Series championship. Team 7-Eleven driver Tony Kanaan is in third, trailing Franchitti by 58 points.
Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone “The day was going really well for the Canadian Club team until Marco (Andretti) and I got together in Turn 1. Tony (Kanaan) and I had a similar situation on the stop before that and Tony opened up the door and gave me the room. I really want to look at it and talk to Marco. We're teammates. We look after each other and that shouldn't happen. I'm going to talk with him, look at the video and we'll see from there.”
For more of the officially cleansed recap of Dario's race on Sundaywritten by andrettigreen.com see...
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