Meijer Indy 300 Race Report
Circuit: Kentucky Speedway (1.5-mile oval) Sparta, KY
2009 Winner: Ryan Briscoe (Team Penske Honda) 200.893 mph average
Weather: Clear, mild, 74 degrees F
Staying on track for another six laps while his competitors made their third round of pit stops, Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves was able to stretch his final tank of ethanol from Lap 147 to the finish Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway to win the Meijer Indy 300.
Following the third round of scheduled stops, Castroneves emerged at the tail end of a 10-car lead pack, headed for much of the night by Panther Racing’s Dan Wheldon, pole qualifier Ed Carpenter and series points leader Will Power. But all of these potential winners – and everyone else still on the lead lap –were forced to make one final stop for fuel during the final 10 laps of tonight’s 200-lap event – handing the lead and a second victory of 2010 to Castroneves.
Following Castroneves to the checkers was Carpenter, runner-up in Kentucky for the second consecutive year, and his teammate, Wheldon, who led a race-high 93 laps. All 27 drivers and teams completed the race weekend without a single failure of the Honda Indy V-8 engine. This weekend, drivers logged a total of 10,506 trouble-free miles around the bumpy, high-speed Kentucky Speedway oval.
Tony Kanaan led a revitalized Andretti Autosport team, clawing his way from 26th on the starting grid to fourth at the finish, with teammates Marco Andretti, sixth, and Danica Patrick, ninth. In the fourth Andretti entry, Ryan Hunter-Reay also ran in the lead pack and appeared headed for a top-10 finish until a rear suspension upright failure ended his race on Lap 174.
Will Power led 83 laps, second only to Wheldon, but a slight delay during his third pit stop dropped him to eighth, while championship rival Dario Franchitti’s fifth-place finish moved him to within 17 points of Power with two races remaining. Conquest Racing’s Bertrand Baguette continued his run of strong late-season performances to round out the top 10 finishers and once again lead the rookie field.
The IZOD IndyCar Series now takes a week off before making its longest trip of the 2010 season – to the Honda-owned 1.5-mile Twin Ring Motegi oval north of Tokyo for the Japan Indy 300 on Sunday,
September 19.
Helio Castroneves (#3 Team Penske Honda) started 8th, finished 1st, 2nd IndyCar win of 2010, his
first win at Kentucky Speedway: “You should be interviewing [team vice president] Tim Cindric, not
me! He won the race for us tonight, what a great call [to pit on Lap 147, last of the leaders to pit]. We
didn’t have much to lose, so it was worth the risk. After the [last] pit stop, I just kept making the [fuel
mileage] numbers they asked. We dropped back from the leader [pack], but stayed on the lead lap so
when they all came back in one last time, we were in the clear.”
Ed Carpenter (#20 Panther Racing Honda) started 1st, finished 2nd, also finished 2nd here in 2009:
“This one was definitely more disappointing [than 2009]. Dan [Wheldon] and I both had great cars all
weekend, and Dan was especially fast right from the green. We had to make a pretty big wing change at
the first [pit] stop, but after that the car was great. Our last pit stop was really fast and after we all had
cycled through [the stops] I thought we were in great shape, but when I looked up at the scoring pylon I
saw the number ‘3’ and I knew Helio would try to go the distance. If he made it, there wasn’t going to be
anything we could do about it, and that’s the way it worked out.”
Roger Griffiths (Technical Director, Honda Performance Development) on tonight’s race: “I think what
we saw in Chicago and what we saw tonight is setting us up for a great finish to the season. Dan
[Wheldon] ran a very strong race, he’s going into Motegi with a lot of confidence and he’s done well there
before. Dario [Franchitti] is putting a lot of pressure on Will [Power], but Helio [Castroneves] is just so
wily. The Penske team are past masters of fuel strategy and they demonstrated that again tonight. It
was really nice to see Ed [Carpenter] turn a strong qualifying effort into a great race performance. I know
that team is really excited heading into [the season finale at] Homestead.”
Race Results:
Fn. St. Driver Team Engine/Chassis Laps Average Speed/Notes
1. 8. Helio Castroneves Team Penske Honda Dallara 200 174.402 mph avg.; led 7 laps
2. 1. Ed Carpenter Panther Racing Honda Dallara 200 -13.1597 seconds; led 11 laps
3. 3. Dan Wheldon Panther Racing Honda Dallara 200 -13.9214 seconds; led 93 laps
4. 26. Tony Kanaan Andretti Autosport Honda Dallara 200 -13.9931 seconds
5. 11. Dario Franchitti Target Chip Ganassi Honda Dallara 200 -14.1968 seconds
6. 15. Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Honda Dallara 200 -14.5669 seconds
7. 4. Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Honda Dallara 200 -15.1025 seconds; led 1 lap
8. 2. Will Power Team Penske Honda Dallara 200 -15.6142 seconds; led 83 laps
9. 17. Danica Patrick Andretti Autosport Honda Dallara 200 -15.8494 seconds
10. 6. Bertrand Baguette-R Conquest Racing Honda Dallara 199 Running
11. 16. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold RacingHonda Dallara 199 Running
12. 23. Paul Tracy Dreyer & Reinbold RacingHonda Dallara 199 Running; led 4 laps
13. 18. Alex Lloyd-R Dale Coyne Racing Honda Dallara 199 Running
14. 10. Tomas Scheckter Conquest Racing Honda Dallara 199 Running
15. 13. Alex Tagliani FAZZT Race Team Honda Dallara 199 Running
16. 20. Raphael Matos de Ferran Dragon Racing Honda Dallara 199 Running
17. 5. Hideki Mutoh Newman Haas Racing Honda Dallara 199 Running
18. 7. Mario Moraes KV Racing Technology Honda Dallara 198 Running
19. 24. Milka Duno Dale Coyne Racing Honda Dallara 195 Running
20. 25. Graham Rahal Sarah Fisher Racing Honda Dallara 195 Running
21. 27. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda Dallara 174 Did not finish – suspension
22. 21. Sarah Fisher Sarah Fisher Racing Honda Dallara 134 Did not finish – gearbox
23. 12. Vitor Meira A.J. Foyt Racing Honda Dallara 79 Did not finish – crash
24. 9. Ryan Briscoe Team Penske Honda Dallara 79 Did not finish – crash; led 1 lap
25. 19. Simona de Silvestro-R HVM Racing Honda Dallara 78 Did not finish – crash
26. 22. E.J. Viso KV Racing Technology Honda Dallara 45 Did not finish – suspension
27. 14. Takuma Sato-R KV Racing Technology Honda Dallara 0 Did not finish – crash
IZOD IndyCar Series Championship (after 15 of 17 races):
1. Will Power 552 (5 wins) 6. Ryan Hunter-Reay 404 (1 win)
2. Dario Franchitti 535 (3 wins) 7. Tony Kanaan 392 (1 win)
3. Scott Dixon 469 (2 wins) 8. Marco Andretti 347
4. Helio Castroneves 448 (2 wins) 9. Dan Wheldon 346
5. Ryan Briscoe 418 (1 win) 10. Justin Wilson 335
