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Left to right-Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Marco Andretti
Story by Jeff Kluss: (Sunday August 10, 2008 ) The Meijer 300 IRL spectacle at Kentucky Speedway was another great show on the schedule. Scott Dixon passed Helio Castroneves on the final turn to bring home another win. Helio posted his 7th second place finish of the Season and still no wins. Marco Andretti turned in a 3rd place finish for Andretti-Green Racing after starting 9th in the lineup.
In spite of a wreck in practice on Friday, Danica Patrick still managed to post an 11th place finish.
As usual, if you missed this one you missed out on a great event and a special facility. The IRL knows how to put on a gem of a show, and in partnership with Kentucky Speedway had the crowd screaming for joy. Even though the event was a sell-out and sold another 2,000 standing room only tickets, there was only about 40 thousand fans in attendance. The only real explanation for the 73 thousand seat facility having lighter attendance than the number of tickets sold would be the corporate participation and purchase of tickets. But considering the gate, it was still a great show for all that attended.
Helio Castroneves at pre-race placed second
Scott Dixon now commands a 78 point series lead with only three races remaining. “Obviously a 78-point lead is pretty healthy, but we’re going to have to still try to gain points on Helio,” Dixon said. “We need an 82-point lead to have it sewn up after (the next race at) Sonoma. That would be nice, but in all reality I think we’ll be battling for the championship to the last race.”
Scott Dixon on the back-stretch
With only 7 laps remaining in the race, Dixon had to make a pit stop for a splash of fuel which kept all on the edge of their seats. This unplanned stop put Dixon behind Helio Castroneves #3 car by six seconds. In a gamble by the Penske Team, they had decided not to fuel after their last stop 57 laps from the finish. Then in the final lap on turn 3, Helio’s car lost fuel pressure, and Dixon took the advantage.
Helio Castroneves passing A. J. Foyt IV
“At that point, I saw the lights on the dash and they were all lit,” Castroneves said. “The fuel meter was off a little bit, but it wasn’t off so far that I expected to get to the finish line first.”The car misfired,” Castroneves said. “If you keep your foot on the throttle, the engine won’t respond because it’s trying to suck more fuel and there’s nothing there. What you try to do is lift a little bit to make sure you keep some revs. That’s what I did. When it coughed, I kept trying to step on and off to see if I could get more fuel. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. We took a chance,” Castroneves said. “I still can’t believe how close we were. We were just a few hundred yards short.”
Roger Penske on Pit Road had Helio Castroneves coming in 2nd and Ryan Brisco finishing 7th
Ryan Briscoe finished 7th
Ed Carpenter left on Pit Road getting ready.
Above Carpenter passing Hideki Mutoh
Ed Carpenter’s crew rolls out the car on Pit Road
In response to the Castroneves fuel problem Dixon stated, “They said there were a few guys who had gone on an alternate strategy. They were fighting pretty hard. I didn’t think coming out from this that we had enough to win. It definitely took him (Castroneves) having a problem with fuel in order for us to win it.” Dixon said. “Coming through Turns 3 and 4 and watching Helio run out of fuel with a few hundred feet to go was pretty special. I must say it’s nice to be in that position.”
Marco Andretti on the back stretch on lap 147
Marco Andretti had a great race that saw him battling Scott Dixon and Vitor Meira for the lead through the second half. Andretti led 38 laps and then fell to second place on lap 98. “We’ve got to start capitalizing when we have cars that can win races,” Andretti lamented. “Dixon had a bit of speed on us, but I think we had a better car in traffic. It was between him and I to win the race, and it’s just unfortunate that we didn’t.”
With only 12 laps left in the race, Andretti and Meira had to stop for a splash of fuel and Andretti emerged before Meira on the exit from Pit Road. “My car was just a little too loose on the last stint to make the move,” Meira said. “We planned on it cooling down late in the race, and we knew we would be in the money on the last 50 laps.”
Dan Wheldon finished 5th in spite of the question of Chip Ganasi’s failed attempt to hire Tony Kanaan earlier in the week as a possible replacement. “We lost a lot of spots in the pits on that last stop,” Wheldon said. “It is difficult to get them back.”
Milka Duno had the only serious incident of the night, emerging unhurt after a mechanical failure on the No. 23 sent it into the wall. It appeared that on turn 2 that a blown right side tire was what put the car into the wall and finishing up on the back-stretch infield. “I was just turning and the car went straight into the wall,” Duno said.
Duno immediately after hitting the wall in turn 2, then in the infield, and then being assisted.
Finishing Position Driver Team Time Started 1. Scott Dixon Ganassi 1:36:42.3467 1 2. Helio Castroneves Penske + 0.5532 6 3. Marco Andretti Andretti Green + 0.5707 9 4. Vitor Meira Panther + 0.9102 2 5. Dan Wheldon Ganassi + 2.1472 3 6. Ed Carpenter Vision + 5.9531 8 7. Ryan Briscoe Penske + 6.2271 5 8. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green + 7.0932 7 9. Ryan Hunter-Reay Rahal Letterman +10.9526 14 10. Buddy Rice Dreyer & Reinbold +21.6858 15 11. Danica Patrick Andretti Green +1 lap 26 12. Oriol Servia KV +1 lap 12 13. E.J. Viso HVM +2 laps 21 14. Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne +2 laps 25 15. Sarah Fisher Fisher +2 laps 16 16. Jaime Camara Conquest +3 laps 22 17. Mario Moraes Dale Coyne +5 laps 23 18. Hideki Mutoh Andretti Green +43 laps 4 19. Darren Manning Foyt +53 laps 17 20. A.J. Foyt IV Vision +64 laps 10 21. Milka Duno Dreyer & Reinbold +70 laps 18 22. Enrique Bernoldi Conquest +76 laps 24 23. Marty Roth Roth +102 laps 11 24. Justin Wilson Newman/Haas/Lanigan +118 laps 19 25. Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan +172 laps 20 26. Will Power KV +195 laps 13
Watkins Glen, N.Y. (August 11, 2008 ) – The latest stop of the 2008 racing season at the Centurion Boats at the Glen at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, N.Y. had the stars and fans of the Sprint Cup Series experiencing severe heartburn. From a nine car pileup and the resulting 40-minute lull in action to finishes that affected the Chase for the Championship, big-name drivers experienced more than a few TUMSâ moments at the Glen. Each weekend PRN lead anchor Doug Rice picks the Top 10 TUMS Moments from the weekend’s racing activities.
This week’s Top 10 TUMS honors go to:
10. Jeff Gordon was looking to find his way back to the winner’s circle at one of his top tracks but instead the DuPount Chevy wound up finishing 29th after starting 6th.
9. A curious pit strategy took Dale Earnhardt Jr. out of contention for the win. The number 88 car led 28 of the first 29 laps but eventually finished 22.
8. Ryan Neman saw his remote hopes for making the Chase vanish at the Glen after his Dodge placed 26th after suffering multiple mishaps.
7. Clint Bowyer started the day in 12th, clinging to the final place in the Chase. After finishing 23rd he slipped to 13th in points and is temporarily out of the top 12 with only four races remaining before the cut-off day.
6. It was an all day struggle for David Ragan, another driver battling to find a spot in the Chase. Ragan started at the back of the pack in a back up car and most likely dropped out of Chase contention after a 30th-place finish.
5. Robby Gordon, a perpetual road course favorite, struggled at the Glen and spent most of the race trying to get back on the lead lap. At the end of the day 27th was the best he was able to do.
4. Bobby Labonte was involved in a nine car crash with just seven laps remaining. Labonte’s car was destroyed and he was flown to a nearby hospital, where he was treated and released.
3. The race fans had to endure a 40-minute lull in the action while track workers cleaned and repaired the track after the big wreck. This was almost like waiting 40 minutes for a pitching change at the ball bark.
2. David Gilliland and Michael McDowell were called to the NASCAR trailer after their on-track altercation triggers the “big one”.
1. All of the drivers who thought they might catch Kyle Busch are in serious need of TUMS. Busch’s win at the Glen guarantees him the number one seed when the Chase begins in just four weeks.
Stay tuned each week for the Top 10 TUMS Moments to see which drivers and teams are most in need of TUMS fast relief.
