2009 IRL Rd. 5--A.J. Foyt/ABC Supply Co. 225

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And Dixon wins in Milwaukee!
Briscoe holds off Franchitti for 2nd; Rahal finishes 4th and Danica finishes 5th!

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IndyCar fans in West Allis, WI, were treated clear skies and moderate temperatures as they watched Scott Dixon earn his 18th career victory and second of 2009 as a late race pass of Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe landed the Kiwi in the winner’s circle. Dixon also moved from 4th to 1st in the driver’s championship with his win.

I was trying to get the flow of traffic the whole day. I definitely think from the start our car was better. We could run quick times when we needed to, and we were good in traffic. We had many runs on (Ryan) Briscoe, and he kind of blocked a lot and that was kind of frustrating early on, but he definitely got caught up there with (Tomas) Scheckter trying to take him on the bottom, and I got a great run on the high side and it just lined up perfect. That's the struggle at this track - getting through the traffic. I’m just so stoked that we won at the Milwaukee Mile, man!

Briscoe led for much of the race and looked like a sure thing for the win, but lacked the speed when it counted most, ending up 2.125 seconds behind Dixon as the checkered flag waved. “Scott was there all day. I was held up by Scheckter. (Dixon) got a run on me and that was it. I could see that Scott’s car was faster when (my) tires got old and his were stronger when the stint went longer. It was a great race. Scott (Dixon) was just a little bit better than me at the end there. He got me in traffic. I was struggling with a little bit of understeer, and whenever I'd get on the inside I'd really lose my momentum. Great job by Scott. He was there all day long and took the opportunity to pass me when I got slowed up. It was a great effort by Team Penske today. My pit stops were awesome. I don't think I've lost a spot this year in the pits yet, so it's a great credit to Team Penske."

3rd place Dario Franchitti had no answer for Dixon or Briscoe and had to settle for the final spot on the podium. “It’s one of those deals where I’m happy we got up to 3rd from 8th. We got close, but not close enough. If you got momentum and managed to pass people, you could get to the front, but that wasn’t us today. The hard thing was lapped cars. It was traffic, it was timing your passes right. My guys did a great job and got me out in the lead on the green flag (pit) stop. Then I just mistimed a pass, someone took my air off and that was it - back to third again. I really tried hard to pass (Ryan) Briscoe at the end, but again, when he was taking my air there was nothing I can do. It was a tough day. The Milwaukee Mile produces close racing and you're really fighting that lapped traffic all day."

Traffic would play its usual role at Milwaukee as the leaders were routinely balked by slower traffic. However, it wasn’t always slower drivers at the heart of the passing problem.

Helio Castroneves, running in 12th after starting last, put up a tough fight to prevent Briscoe from lapping him just before the halfway point, slowing the Aussie and allowing the rival Target cars to draw closer. Castroneves would also make passing difficult for Dixon and Franchitti after he let Briscoe pass, giving Ryan a twenty car length lead. With Helio out of the way, it took Dixon just a handful of laps to pull within striking distance of Briscoe.

A round of pit stops on lap 134 found Briscoe slowed slightly by Justin Wilson on pit entry. After the stops, the order of Briscoe-Dixon-Franchitti became Franchitti-Briscoe-Dixon.

Lap 154 would see that order change back yet again as Briscoe made a daring pass into turn 1, causing Franchitti to move high. By start/finish, Dixon would move past Dario, taking 2nd place. A yellow for debris on lap 160 allowed the field to make their final stop, running for an extended period behind the pace car, saving fuel as the IRL brought out the sweepers to clear marbles from the racing line. The ten laps of caution helped ease any fears of making it to the end for the front-runners.

Dixon provided the only serious competition for Briscoe, staying within a few car lengths as the rest of the field struggled to keep pace with the Aussie and Kiwi.

The lapped Dreyer & Reinbold car of Tomas Scheckter would set the stage for the final pass of the race as he slowed Briscoe and gave Dixon the opportunity needed to get by on lap 201. Dixon’s lead would stretch to a 3 second as Franchitti began working on Briscoe for the 2nd spot. Briscoe would nearly fall into Franchitti’s clutches in the final laps, but held on to 2nd with the Scot on his rear wing as the two crossed the start finish line, just 0.138 behind.


Top-10 from the Milwaukee Mile....................
1} #9 Scott Dixon, 225 laps
2} #6 Ryan Briscoe, -2.126 sec
3} #10 Dario Franchitti, -2.264 sec
4} #02 Graham Rahal, -2.674 sec
5} #7 Danica Patrick, -5.984 sec
6}(R)#2 Raphael Matos, -15.888 sec
7} #26 Marco Andretti, -17.945 sec
8} #27 Hideki Mutoh, -1 lap
9} #5 Mario Moraes, -1 lap
10} #4 Dan Wheldon, -1 lap

[GhoGho]

at least i picked the right one here, unlike the monaco gp