Chip Gannasi Racing strikes back in the IZOD Indycar series after claiming its 4rth in a row victory on the 1.5-mile oval Kansas Speedway (Dan Wheldon won in 2007 and '08). Scot Dixon dominated RoadRunner Turbo 300 and claimed his second consecutive win in the speedway. It was a classic Dixon oval performance: No dramas, no risk taking, and no chance for the competition to make their way past. His team-mate and defending IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti finished 2nd after a tough battle with Team Penske's Helio Castroneves.
The Brazilian was the only Penske driver in the top 5, finishing in 4rth after being overtaken by Tony Kanaan in the closing laps of the race.
The winner of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Ryan Hunter-Reay finished 5th and pole-sitter Ryan Briscoe 6th as the two Japanese drivers of the series Hideki Mutoh and Takuma Sato collided with the wall 12 laps before the finish of the race.
Scot Dixon commented after the race:
"Going into the month of May (at Indianapolis), winning a race is huge for us and our team needed this," said Dixon, who led a field-high 167 laps. "I just hope we can carry it through."
Dario Franchitti commented about the race as well:
"[Dixon] was a little bit quicker than I was, especially toward the end of the stint. He was probably .2 or .3 mile-per-hour every lap. My balance was very good, but he was just quicker. It went on for a quite a while then Tony and I were very close on the restart as well. Then the yellow came out just as we finished pitting and that put tons of cars between Scott and myself. I got past Helio and then I could see Tony coming on pretty strong. The last few laps, the car was really oversteering but I kept it flat and managed to jump him. I think second was a fair result for us."
Kanaan was really excited for his 3rd position after improved 11 positions:
"I have to thank the whole 7-Eleven crew for the great stops. It was a great race. We did what we could. We definitely didn't have the fastest car out there so we tried to maximize the result. Qualifying really doesn't matter at this place. I hope the fans enjoyed it. I want to thank them for coming and it's a good way to lead into Indianapolis."
While Ganassi Racing was dominated the race Team Penske's cars had a bitter race in Kasnas. althout starign form pole position Ryan Briscoe;s lead lasted just 31 laps before the Ganassi train blew by. And if Briscoe's day went slightly sour, Will Power's reintroduction to oval racing was entirely forgettable. A touch of oval rust reared its head on the Aussie's first pit stop as he overshot his stall. With the refueling hose stretched to its limits, his crew struggled to get fuel in the car, causing the stop to take an excruciatingly long time.
While Power was at fault for going too deep in his pit box, his crew failed to react to the mistake, and never pushed the No. 12 Verizon Wireless car back the two feet necessary to properly engage the fuel hose. Even with the car on the ground after its tires had been changed, the No. 12 wasn't rolled back and the refueler continued to struggle. Both errors saw the winner of the first three rounds go a lap down and drop out of contention. Power would eventually finish two laps down in 12th.
John Andretti delivered a salty dog performance, moving from 17th to ninth while looking more than up for the challenge at Indy in one of his cousin's cars. Finishing third amongst the five Andretti Autosport cars was a reminder of the CART and NASCAR veteran's abilities.
