Castroneves Outsmarts Field to Win in Kentucky

Helio Castroneves wasn't nearly fast enough to win, but was smart enough to win. An error on their third-to-last pit stop forced them to pit late to fix a loose lug nut, which made the team top the fuel off later than the others. When the leaders all had to pit within the final ten laps, Castroneves stayed out to capture the win. Ed Carpenter followed up his maiden pole with a second place finish, with teammate Dan Wheldon, who led the most laps, coming home third. Dario Franchitti gained some ground on points leader Will Power, as Franchitti finished fifth to Power's eighth.

Ed Carpenter led the field to green, but it didn’t stay out for long, as Takuma Sato’s car broke loose in turn three and contacted the outside wall. Ryan Hunter-Reay, in trying to avoid a crashing Sato, spun his car a full 360 degrees. However, the American didn’t hit anything and continued. Sato’s night, on the other hand, was over.

When the field went back to green, Carpenter retained the lead but only until lap 11, when teammate Dan Wheldon slipped by to grab to the top spot.

Meanwhile, the Conquest team continued their strong form from Friday; Bertrand Baguette ran as high as third in the early laps before slipping back somewhat. However, he stayed in or near the top 10 much of the night, along with teammate Tomas Scheckter. Baguette would end the night tenth, a fine accomplishment for the rookie and the low-budget team. "I think it was a good race for us, starting P6 and running third for a while. It felt good for the team and for me to be in that position. We've been continuously improving, which is good, and hopefully we can do even better at the next one."

Also, Tony Kanaan and Ryan Hunter-Reay were battling through the field. Kanaan, who started 25th, climbed ten spots in the opening lap, and was 13th by lap 35, while Hunter-Reay was up to 15th after his spin.

With Wheldon and Carpenter flying in lock-step, the battle third began heating up, as Will Power was forced to hold off challenges from Scott Dixon and Marco Andretti, who followed the points leader throughout the opening stint.

Pit stops began on lap 53, with Raphael Matos and Mario Moraes the first to peel off. Wheldon and Carpenter pitted on the next lap, with Carpenter’s stop somewhat longer as the team made a major front wing adjustment.

Power, Franchitti, and Dixon all stopped on lap 57. Because of his later stop, Power was able to jump into the lead over Dixon, Wheldon, Franchitti, and Kanaan, who was all the way up to fifth after his stop. Carpenter was the big loser, as he dropped all the way back to tenth.

Wheldon, now around Dixon into second, was not content to stay behind Power, and tried passing the Australian on the outside on lap 69. The two went wheel-to-wheel for a couple of laps, with Dixon stalking both of them. However, Wheldon couldn’t clear Power, and dropped back into his tow.

Marco Andretti began charging up through the field in the second stint, as he climbed all the way up to third by lap 80, passing Kanaan Franchitti, and Dixon in the process.

However, the same lap brought out the second caution of the night. In a frightening incident, Vitor Meira and Helio Castroneves both tried to split around the lap car of Simona de Silvestro; while Castroneves cleared her, Meira could not, and bumped her left-rear with his right-front. As the two drivers spun toward the outside wall, they collected Ryan Briscoe and all three crashed hard, with de Silvestro bouncing from the outside wall to the inside wall in turn three.

Briscoe would suffer a bruised foot, but all three would walk away relatively unscathed, very good news after a hard crash for all three.

The leaders would pit under that yellow, with Power leading the way off of pit road ahead of Wheldon, Dixon, Franchitti, and Kanaan. Andretti fell from third to sixth on the stops, while Carpenter gained some ground, coming out seventh.

It was under this caution that Helio Castroneves began going off strategy. Uncertain that they got the lugnuts tightened all the way, the Penske team chose to pit him just before the race went to green, changed his tires once more, and topped off his car with fuel so he could go that little bit farther than everyone else, which set up his late-race run.

After a very lengthy cleanup, the race went back to green on lap 96. Power fended off another challenge from Wheldon, while Ryan Hunter-Reay found himself in the top ten, running ninth as the race neared the halfway point.

Paul Tracy had also survived the first half of the race on the lead lap, and found himself tenth at the same time.

Power led through this stint, while Carpenter worked his way back into the top five, until pit stops started again on lap 141. Kanaan and Hunter-Reay were the first of the leaders to pit, with Power pitting one lap later. Wheldon went one lap farther and pitted on lap 145, with teammate Carpenter. The two jumped ahead of Power as he drifted high in turn four on his out-lap, dropping him through the top five.

Castroneves was the last to pit on lap 148, setting himself up to possibly run to the end without stopping. He immediately went into fuel saving mode.

With the stops completed, Wheldon assumed the lead over Franchitti, Andretti, Kanaan, and Power. However, Power began dropping steadily back soon afterward, as the handling started going away.

Ryan Hunter-Reay’s fine night, which saw him running near the top five, came to an end on lap 175, as a problem in the right-rear forced him to pit and eventually retire. “We had a great day going,” said a disappointed Hunter-Reay. “We went from 27th to the top five and were just biding our time. I liked the clean air there, working with my teammates. We tucked in line, were just waiting to fight it out at the end and had a problem in the right rear that ended our night. It's unfortunate.”

Wheldon led until the leaders all began pitting in the final laps for a splash of fuel, starting with Kanaan, who pitted with nine laps left. Wheldon, Franchitti, and Power all came in with five laps left, but Carpenter managed to stay out an extra lap and jumped ahead of all of them.

He was up to second behind Castroneves, hoping the Penske driver would run out of fuel before race’s end. But, it wasn’t meant to be, and Castroneves nursed his car home for the win over Carpenter, Wheldon, Kanaan, and Franchitti.

“Unfortunately we had an issue with our pit stop, but we started to make ground and head to the front,” explained a happy Castroneves, who last won at Barber in the Spring. “I tried to stay steady. You have to remember it is 200 laps. We were loose in the beginning, but at the end it was meant to be. I remember in 2008 here I ran out of fuel and finished in second. When the team told me to save fuel I was just trying to keep it up and stay in the draft. It was similar to what happened in 2008 and this time it paid off for Team Penske. I am very excited for this win and to be a part of the IZOD IndyCar Series.”

For Carpenter, this year’s second place was even more disappointing than last year’s, when he lost to Briscoe by a nose. “For Dan and I to finish second and third is a little disappointing because we were so strong all weekend,” he explained. “Dan had a dominant car today and it's tough being in our position when you have a guy win on fuel mileage. I think we are very proud having two Panther cars on the podium. We made a pretty big wing change after we were loose and that slowed us down in the pits. We dropped back a few positions and then worked our way through the field."

Wheldon was also frustrated to miss out on the win, but was very happy with the team’s performance all weekend. “The whole Panther racing team has done a phenomenal job to be able to bring the two cars to these last two races<’ said Wheldon. “Having Ed (Carpenter) on board is a fantastic addition and we have a great relationship. The race went very well and the #4 boys did a fantastic job in the pits. The ending was unfortunate. I would like to have Ed race with us in Motegi as well. I am bummed that the race didn't turn out different, but it will motivate us for the last two races. The quality of the Honda was fantastic out there."

The driver of the nigh, though, likely belonged to Kanaan, who came from the back of the field to fourth. “I promised my fans on Twitter I would pass 11 cars on the first lap. It was only 10,” laughed Kanaan. “I apologize to all of my followers that I couldn't do it. It was a great race. I worked with Marco (Andretti) and Ryan (Hunter-Reay) so well. It was fun. I hate strategy races. Dan Wheldon deserved to win this one. Racing is never fair, but that's the way it is."

Franchitti managed to gain more ground on Power, who finished eighth, and close the gap to 17 points with two races left. “From where we were after the first lap to where we finished the night, it was an exciting race,” said the Scotsman. “We marched our way from 14th to third, I guess. We were hovering around the front. We were second, running behind Dan (Wheldon), but Helio (Castroneves) had the fuel to go to the end and we did not. We finished ahead of Will (Power) which was one of the things we needed to achieve, but it would have been nice to have finished a little further up. I enjoyed racing with Tony (Kanaan) up front we were working well together. Everybody was fighting for grip and sliding around a little. It was not a bad night."

Power was unhappy to lose ground to Franchitti, but still was able to smile on the night. “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."

With that, Power leads Franchitti by 17 going to Motegi, Japan in two week, his lead dramatically small than it was after Infineon.