Helio Castroneves’ No. 3 Team Penske won Kentucky Indy 300 just because his car had enough ethanol to pull him into Victory Circle at Kentucky Speedway and climbed for one more time at the circuit's fence in front of his fans.Just enough was good enough to take a surprising victory in the Kentucky Indy 300. Surprising enough as championship leader proved once more his weakness to win in an oval speedway although his race dominance. It was surprising because a pit lane miscommunication on Lap 89 forced race strategist Tim Cindric to bring Castroneves back in three later on the final opportunity to pit under caution. Surprising because with 35 laps left Castroneves was running 10th. Surprising because he had to hit fuel mileage numbers while still trying to make up ground with cars traveling 217 mph-plus.
And Castroneves just because he pitted on Lap 147 -- two laps later than the lead pack thanks to previous off-sequence stop, he was able to out-fuel the front-runners -- most of whom needed a splash in the final five laps.
"You have to remember it is 200 laps. Unfortunately, we had an issue with our pit stop, but we started to make ground and head to the front. I tried to stay steady and saving fuel. All of a sudden, (Cindric) says ‘Try to make this number.’ I was like, ‘That's going to be impossible, man.’ He was already thinking to make a number that would be very difficult. But when we pitted the last time, he just said you've got to make this number because we have nothing to lose, and it’s definitely going to pay off.
I remember in 2008 here I ran out of fuel and finished in second (to Scott Dixon). This time it paid off for Team Penske. We were loose in the beginning, but at the end it was meant to be."
Officially, it was win No. 2 for Castroneves, after the black flag he has been shown in the Edmonton race and overtook teammate Ryan Briscoe for fourth in the championship standings with two races left.
Pole sitter Ed Carpenter finished second at the track for the second year in a row and Panther/Vision Racing teammate Dan Wheldon was third and commented:
"The whole Panther racing team has done a phenomenal job to be able to bring the two cars to these last two races. Having Ed on board is a fantastic addition and we have a great relationship. The race went very well and the No. 4 boys did a fantastic job in the pits.
The ending was unfortunate. I am bummed that the race didn’t turn out different, but it will motivate us for the last two races."
Tony Kanaan charged from 26th in the 27-car field to fourth and Franchitti was fifth. Kanaan commented:
"I promised my fans on Twitter that I was going to pass 11 cars on the first lap and I only got 10, so I want to apologize to all of my followers that I couldn’t do it. But it was a great race. I worked with Marco (Andretti) and Ryan (Hunter-Reay) so well. Congratulations to Helio, but I don’t really like strategy races. I think Dan deserved this one, but it is what it is."
Franchitti just managed to close the IZOD IndyCar Series championship points gap on Will Power, who finished eighth, to 17. Although he had been looking for a better performance he should be well satisfied as Will Power was leading the race for 83 laps and if he could win then he would had grabbed the championship already.
Power commented:
"The Verizon car was great out front. I had a little understeer back in traffic. Really, my night was quite good, although after my last stop I think I hit some oil from an earlier incident between Turns 3 and 4. I pushed up straight towards the wall; I was very close to hitting it.
Congratulations to Helio and Team Penske for bringing home the victory. We have our work cut out for us for the championship, but we still have the lead and onward we go."
Marco Andretti earned a second consecutive top 10, with Scott Dixon following in seventh. Danica Patrick finished 9th proving his oval racing skills ahead of the Twin Ring Motegi race where she grabbed her only Indycars victory.
"That was a lot of work for a ninth-place finish,” said Patrick, who posted her sixth top 10 of the season. “I had a good car all night and was running with the lead pack the entire time. Right before the final pit stop I was in the top six so I thought it would end up playing out that way. My GoDaddy guys did a great job tonight and I really appreciate all their hard work."
Rookie Bertrand Baguette posted his season best in 10th. Paul Tracy, competed at the Kentucky Speedway for the first time in his entirely career. Running 10th with 10 laps to ho he was another fuel-starved and pitted on Lap 194. He finished 12th, one position behind Dreyer & Reinbold Racing teammate Justin Wilson. another rookie, Japanese Takuma Sato had a contact early on lap 45 and now the pressure to deliver a good result in the next home race is high after the announcement that Roger Yasukawa will compete there too.
