PEAK Indy 300 Race Report
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PEAK Indy 300 Race Report
Joliet, Ill. - Aug 30 — Circuit: Chicagoland Speedway (1.5-mile oval) Joliet, Ill.
2008 Winner: Helio Castroneves (Team Penske Honda) 150.649 mph average
Weather: Partly cloudy, cool, 61 degrees F
Race Results:
Fn. St. Driver Team Chassis Laps Average Speed/Notes 1. 1. Ryan Briscoe Team Penske Honda Dallara 200 177.827 mph average, led 71 laps 2. 6. Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Honda Dallara 200 -0.0077 seconds, led 61 laps 3. 8. Mario Moraes KV Racing Technology Honda Dallara 200 -0.0699 seconds 4. 3. Dario Franchitti Target Chip Ganassi Honda Dallara 200 -0.0997 seconds, led 34 laps 5. 5. Graham Rahal Newman Haas Lanigan Honda Dallara 200 -0.1295 seconds 6. 12. Ed Carpenter Vision Racing Honda Dallara 200 -0.1668 seconds 7. 9. Oriol Servia Newman Haas Lanigan Honda Dallara 200 -0.2612 seconds 8. 14. Tomas Scheckter Dreyer & Reinbold Honda Dallara 200 -0.2683 seconds, led 4 laps 9. 17. Raphael Matos-R Luczo Dragon Racing Honda Dallara 200 -0.3356 seconds 10. 15. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne Racing Honda Dallara 200 -0.4344 seconds 11. 7. Marco Andretti Andretti Green Racing Honda Dallara 200 -0.5224 seconds 12. 10. Danica Patrick Andretti Green Racing Honda Dallara 200 -0.5840 seconds 13. 4. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing Honda Dallara 200 -0.8269 seconds, led 7 laps 14. 19. Sarah Fisher Sarah Fisher Racing Honda Dallara 199 Running 15. 18. Ryan Hunter-Reay A.J. Foyt Racing Honda Dallara 199 Running 16. 16. Mike Conway-R Dreyer & Reinbold Honda Dallara 199 Running 17. 20. E.J. Viso HVM Racing Honda Dallara 198 Running 18. 22. Robert Doombos -R HVM Racing Honda Dallara 197 Running 19. 23. Jaques Lazier Team 3G Honda Dallara 195 Running 20. 2. Helio Castroneves Team Penske Honda Dallara 184 Did not finish - crash, led 23 laps 21. 21. Milka Duno Dreyer & Reinbold Honda Dallara 155 Did not finish - handling 22. 11. Dan Wheldon Panther Racing Honda Dallara 95 Did not finish - halfshaft 23. 13. Hideki Mutoh Andretti Green Racing Honda Dallara 90 Did not finish - crash R - IndyCar Series Rookie Briscoe Wins Photo Finish At Chicagoland
Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe and Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon battled wheel-to-wheel for the final 10 laps of Saturday night's Peak Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway, leading a side-by-side and three-wide "freight train" of 13 lead-lap cars across the finish line after 200 laps of exciting, extremely close competition. At the checkers, it was Briscoe edging Dixon by less than eight-thousandths of a second, the fourth-closest finish in IndyCar Series history.
Briscoe's third win of the season gives him a 25-point advantage in the drivers' championship standings over Dixon's teammate, Dario Franchitti, with just two races remaining. Dixon, the remaining driver in championship contention, is 33 points back in third.
The exciting 300-mile contest, which saw all 13 lead-lap cars finish within the same second, capped another weekend of performance and reliability for the Honda Indy V-8 engine, with 23 drivers and teams recording 10,440.88 miles at Chicagoland, once again with 100 percent reliability.
Positions changed frequently throughout the field all race long, but the final, 10-lap "trophy dash" finish was set up when Helio Castroneves suffered an apparent suspension failure on Lap 184, crashing without serious injury in Turn 4. When the green flag waved for the final time on Lap 190, Dixon led from Briscoe and Franchitti. But with five laps to go, the 10-car pack had chased down the leaders, setting up the thrilling finish.
At the front, Briscoe used his "Push to Pass" button on the final lap to move around Dixon on the high side in the run from Turn Four to the finish while, mere inches behind, KV Racing's Mario Moraes capped his best race of the season by following in Briscoe's wheel tracks and edging Franchitti for third by just 19-thousandths of a second.
Graham Rahal held off a charging Ed Carpenter for fifth, while Oriol Servia crossed the line in seventh in just his third start for Newman Haas Lanigan Racing. After leading four laps and running near the front for most of the race, Tomas Schekter fell to eight at the checkers, with rookie Raphael Matos and Watkins Glen race-winner Justin Wilson rounding out the top 10 finishers.
The IndyCar Series continues its run of 1.5-mile ovals to close out the 2009 season, crossing the Pacific Ocean for the September 19 event at Honda's Twin Ring Motegi circuit in Tochigi, Japan.
IndyCar Series Standings (after 15 of 17 races): 1. Ryan Briscoe 550 points (3 wins) 7. Tony Kanaan 335 2. Dario Franchitti 525 (4 wins) 8. Graham Rahal 331 3. Scott Dixon 517 (4 wins) 9. Dan Wheldon 318 4. Helio Castroneves 383 (2 wins) 10. Justin Wilson 316 (1 win) 5. Danica Patrick 353 11. Hideki Mutoh 309 6. Marco Andretti 342 12. Ed Carpenter 286 Ryan Briscoe (#6 Team Penske Honda) Started 1st, finished 1st, third IndyCar Series win of 2009, extends his championship points lead to 25, only the second race this season where the points lead has not changed: "Man, It's huge. That was a big win. I didn't think I would have enough for Scott, but the side draft pulled me right along. I didn't even know if I'd won it; I had to ask the team. I made a mistake during the first pit stop and my guys had trouble getting the fuel in. But we kept our heads down and made up the ground we'd lost. I've said all along we're going to have to win races to win this championship. Hopefully, we can stop those [Ganassi] guys in these final two races."
Scott Dixon (#9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Started 6th, finished 2nd, his fifth second-place finish at Chicagoland: "I've seen this movie several times before, unfortunately. It seems like I always finish second at Chicago. It was a great race, and my guys did a great job in the pits, but we just didn't seem to have the speed we needed to win. The Penske is clearly just a bit faster now, and we have to work hard to catch up. I think we timed our uses of the overtake button well, we just didn't have enough speed to run with Ryan [Briscoe] or even Helio [Castroneves] in a head-to-head race."
Jack Spurney (General Manager, Honda Performance Development) on tonight's race: "The cold, windy weather added an interesting dimension to the race. It was great to see another exciting IndyCar oval race, with plenty of side-by-side and even three-wide racing. It was one of the most exciting finishes I've ever witnessed, and the 'Push to Pass' seemed to add to the excitement, as we'd hoped. It's unfortunate that both Hideki Mutoh and Helio Castroneves went out with what appeared to be suspension problems, but fortunately they're both okay and the Chicago fans got to see a great race, full of close racing, interesting tactics and an exciting finish."
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2008 Winner: Helio Castroneves (Team Penske Honda) 150.649 mph average
Weather: Partly cloudy, cool, 61 degrees F
Race Results:
Fn. St. Driver Team Chassis Laps Average Speed/Notes 1. 1. Ryan Briscoe Team Penske Honda Dallara 200 177.827 mph average, led 71 laps 2. 6. Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Honda Dallara 200 -0.0077 seconds, led 61 laps 3. 8. Mario Moraes KV Racing Technology Honda Dallara 200 -0.0699 seconds 4. 3. Dario Franchitti Target Chip Ganassi Honda Dallara 200 -0.0997 seconds, led 34 laps 5. 5. Graham Rahal Newman Haas Lanigan Honda Dallara 200 -0.1295 seconds 6. 12. Ed Carpenter Vision Racing Honda Dallara 200 -0.1668 seconds 7. 9. Oriol Servia Newman Haas Lanigan Honda Dallara 200 -0.2612 seconds 8. 14. Tomas Scheckter Dreyer & Reinbold Honda Dallara 200 -0.2683 seconds, led 4 laps 9. 17. Raphael Matos-R Luczo Dragon Racing Honda Dallara 200 -0.3356 seconds 10. 15. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne Racing Honda Dallara 200 -0.4344 seconds 11. 7. Marco Andretti Andretti Green Racing Honda Dallara 200 -0.5224 seconds 12. 10. Danica Patrick Andretti Green Racing Honda Dallara 200 -0.5840 seconds 13. 4. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing Honda Dallara 200 -0.8269 seconds, led 7 laps 14. 19. Sarah Fisher Sarah Fisher Racing Honda Dallara 199 Running 15. 18. Ryan Hunter-Reay A.J. Foyt Racing Honda Dallara 199 Running 16. 16. Mike Conway-R Dreyer & Reinbold Honda Dallara 199 Running 17. 20. E.J. Viso HVM Racing Honda Dallara 198 Running 18. 22. Robert Doombos -R HVM Racing Honda Dallara 197 Running 19. 23. Jaques Lazier Team 3G Honda Dallara 195 Running 20. 2. Helio Castroneves Team Penske Honda Dallara 184 Did not finish - crash, led 23 laps 21. 21. Milka Duno Dreyer & Reinbold Honda Dallara 155 Did not finish - handling 22. 11. Dan Wheldon Panther Racing Honda Dallara 95 Did not finish - halfshaft 23. 13. Hideki Mutoh Andretti Green Racing Honda Dallara 90 Did not finish - crash R - IndyCar Series Rookie Briscoe Wins Photo Finish At Chicagoland
Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe and Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon battled wheel-to-wheel for the final 10 laps of Saturday night's Peak Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway, leading a side-by-side and three-wide "freight train" of 13 lead-lap cars across the finish line after 200 laps of exciting, extremely close competition. At the checkers, it was Briscoe edging Dixon by less than eight-thousandths of a second, the fourth-closest finish in IndyCar Series history.
Briscoe's third win of the season gives him a 25-point advantage in the drivers' championship standings over Dixon's teammate, Dario Franchitti, with just two races remaining. Dixon, the remaining driver in championship contention, is 33 points back in third.
The exciting 300-mile contest, which saw all 13 lead-lap cars finish within the same second, capped another weekend of performance and reliability for the Honda Indy V-8 engine, with 23 drivers and teams recording 10,440.88 miles at Chicagoland, once again with 100 percent reliability.
Positions changed frequently throughout the field all race long, but the final, 10-lap "trophy dash" finish was set up when Helio Castroneves suffered an apparent suspension failure on Lap 184, crashing without serious injury in Turn 4. When the green flag waved for the final time on Lap 190, Dixon led from Briscoe and Franchitti. But with five laps to go, the 10-car pack had chased down the leaders, setting up the thrilling finish.
At the front, Briscoe used his "Push to Pass" button on the final lap to move around Dixon on the high side in the run from Turn Four to the finish while, mere inches behind, KV Racing's Mario Moraes capped his best race of the season by following in Briscoe's wheel tracks and edging Franchitti for third by just 19-thousandths of a second.
Graham Rahal held off a charging Ed Carpenter for fifth, while Oriol Servia crossed the line in seventh in just his third start for Newman Haas Lanigan Racing. After leading four laps and running near the front for most of the race, Tomas Schekter fell to eight at the checkers, with rookie Raphael Matos and Watkins Glen race-winner Justin Wilson rounding out the top 10 finishers.
The IndyCar Series continues its run of 1.5-mile ovals to close out the 2009 season, crossing the Pacific Ocean for the September 19 event at Honda's Twin Ring Motegi circuit in Tochigi, Japan.
IndyCar Series Standings (after 15 of 17 races): 1. Ryan Briscoe 550 points (3 wins) 7. Tony Kanaan 335 2. Dario Franchitti 525 (4 wins) 8. Graham Rahal 331 3. Scott Dixon 517 (4 wins) 9. Dan Wheldon 318 4. Helio Castroneves 383 (2 wins) 10. Justin Wilson 316 (1 win) 5. Danica Patrick 353 11. Hideki Mutoh 309 6. Marco Andretti 342 12. Ed Carpenter 286 Ryan Briscoe (#6 Team Penske Honda) Started 1st, finished 1st, third IndyCar Series win of 2009, extends his championship points lead to 25, only the second race this season where the points lead has not changed: "Man, It's huge. That was a big win. I didn't think I would have enough for Scott, but the side draft pulled me right along. I didn't even know if I'd won it; I had to ask the team. I made a mistake during the first pit stop and my guys had trouble getting the fuel in. But we kept our heads down and made up the ground we'd lost. I've said all along we're going to have to win races to win this championship. Hopefully, we can stop those [Ganassi] guys in these final two races."
Scott Dixon (#9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Started 6th, finished 2nd, his fifth second-place finish at Chicagoland: "I've seen this movie several times before, unfortunately. It seems like I always finish second at Chicago. It was a great race, and my guys did a great job in the pits, but we just didn't seem to have the speed we needed to win. The Penske is clearly just a bit faster now, and we have to work hard to catch up. I think we timed our uses of the overtake button well, we just didn't have enough speed to run with Ryan [Briscoe] or even Helio [Castroneves] in a head-to-head race."
Jack Spurney (General Manager, Honda Performance Development) on tonight's race: "The cold, windy weather added an interesting dimension to the race. It was great to see another exciting IndyCar oval race, with plenty of side-by-side and even three-wide racing. It was one of the most exciting finishes I've ever witnessed, and the 'Push to Pass' seemed to add to the excitement, as we'd hoped. It's unfortunate that both Hideki Mutoh and Helio Castroneves went out with what appeared to be suspension problems, but fortunately they're both okay and the Chicago fans got to see a great race, full of close racing, interesting tactics and an exciting finish."
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