With Dario Franchitti's 500 win Sunday, Chip Ganassi became the first race team owner in North American motorsports to win both the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500 in the same year..............
-----Dario Franchitti delivered a command performance today under sunny skies and almost 100 degree weather to dominate every phase of the Indy 500. Leading 155 out of 200 laps, the Scot gave Chip Ganassi an Indy 500 win just months after his team won the Daytona 500. "[Chip's] hogging all the trophies this year," said Franchitti. "To come back after going away for a year, to win a championship and then to win the Indy 500. I'm speechless right now."
Delivering a drive that was reminiscent of Ganassi's first Indy 500 win ten years ago with Juan Pablo Montoya, the Scot emulated his friend by leading just 12 fewer laps (Montoya held the point for 167 laps in 2000), and never looked seriously under threat on his way to victory. But that doesn't mean it was an uneventful day. "I don't know how other people's were to drive," said Franchitti. "My car was a handful, but it was a fast handful. When it's fast, you can hang on to it. When it's not quite like that, you have to start making adjustments. It was a handful particularly in one, but it was a handful doing 223s when other guys were doing 221s."
With poleman Helio Castroneves leading into Turn 1, Franchitti moved past Will Power on the outside of the first turn and hunted down Castroneves to take the lead by the end of the first lap. A solo spin by Davey Hamilton on Lap 1 brought out the race's first of nine yellows. Franchitti would lead Will Power to the first round of pit stops.
"That move at the start, though, I knew the car was capable of it," Franchitti continued "It's something I've done before here. When I got past Will, I thought, Fair enough. I was sitting on Helio's gearbox. I thought, Damn, this is good. Pulled on past him, the yellow came out."
Stopping on Lap 40, the remainder of the race was cast. With a slight bit of understeer in his first stint, Franchitti asked for a small addition of front wing and a minor tire pressure adjustment. Those changes transformed the No. 10 Target car from being a leader to being uncatchable. Will Power's day went south when his Verizon Wireless crew waved him out of the pits while the refueling probe was still connected.
Power was fortunate to avoid a fire, but he was called in to have the probe removed and to serve a penalty for the infraction. While he would eventually recover to finish eighth after falling to 25th, the miscue effectively ended his shot at winning the Indy 500. It would also mark the first of a number of uncharacteristic errors that took the 3-car Penske operation out of the hunt.
“As a team, we made too many mistakes today," admitted Power. "We had our first stop go wrong. I went long, and then we had a wheel problem in another. You can’t win this race when you keep dropping to the back. We had a bloody fast car. The Verizon car was chopping through the field. It was one of those days. We had a fast car. I think we could have hung with Dario no problem. It’s the lesson of this place. You can’t make mistakes. You have to nail everything on a day like today, and that’s how you win this thing. I was exhausted. Honestly, even halfway, I was like, ‘Man, this race is tough.' I couldn’t wait to get out. I was drained. I was just glad to get out of the car at the end there.”
Returning to the track with Castroneves as his closest challenger, the strength of the No. 10 car was immediately apparent. Pulling out as much as a half-second per lap, Franchitti streaked away as Castroneves was powerless to respond. The scenario would replay itself over and over again as Franchitti would build a lead somewhere between six and nine seconds, would pit, and would then rebuild that margin until the next stop.
A stall by Castroneves on during his pit stop just prior to Lap 150 would drop the Brazilian down the running order, and with teammate Ryan Briscoe crashing hard on Lap 147 on cold tires after his own pit stop, the Team Penske steamroller came to a halt.
Penske gambled late in the race, leaving Castroneves out when the leaders made their final pit stop. Helio never saw the yellow he needed to stretch his fuel tank, and was forced to pit for a splash of ethanol with ten laps to go. He would finish ninth. The pit lane dramas that robbed Target Chip Ganassi of the win they were in the running for in 2009 seemed to find Team Penske in 2010.
“It was a very hot day," said Castroneves. "Congrats to Dario. What an awesome car he had. Ganassi did an incredible job to put him up there. It was the car to beat today. We tried. Unfortunately, silly mistakes put us in the back. I’m very disappointed. I’m more disappointed with the mistake. Certainly, I am very upset for my guys. They did an incredible job the whole month long. They should walk out of here with their heads high.”
Dan Wheldon made his annual appearance at the sharp end of the Indy 500 results, taking a smart second while heavily conserving fuel in the final laps -- just as Franchitti was forced to do. After a forgettable period between the 2009 Indy 500 and today's Indy 500, Wheldon registered a veteran drive and made the most of the opportunity that was presented to him. The Englishman came on strong in the final stage of the race, sitting in seventh just past Lap 150. With all of the last-minute pit stops and the last lap crash, Wheldon earned a strong pay day for the National Guard Panther Racing entry.
"Second two years in a row is not good," said Wheldon. "I have to make sure I improve that one more spot next year. It was a good race. I think everybody at Panther Racing did a phenomenal job. I perhaps should not have been so disciplined. Back in the day, I probably would have ignored some of the instructions I got on those last five laps. As I've got older, I think I'm a bit better behaved."
Andretti Autosport redeemed themselves during the Indy 500 after suffering through a brutal Month of May with strong runs from all of their drivers, barring John Andretti who crashed on his own on Lap 62. Tony Kanaan was the story of the day, charging from last place to second while looking like he had a shot at a runner-up finish. Kanaan kept his foot buried in the throttle in his charge to the front, but when it came to make it to the finish, the 2004 IndyCar Series champion had to pit for a few gallons of fuel to make it to the finish.
The stop proved costly, leaving TK in 11th at the checkered flag.
“I hope I made it exciting out there," said Kanaan. "I promised them a good start, and I think I did that. I have been in many positions for this race, and I don’t think the fastest car wins all the time. I think we had a shot for a win. This whole team for the work they did today deserved a top-three today. I had to come in and get fuel and go out and go as fast as I could. The strategies could have worked both ways. We took a gamble. When it comes to a fuel strategy race, I’m not a big fan of it. It could have gone the other way. We could have gotten the lead and won the race, and we could brag about it for the rest of my life. I support my guys all the way. Let’s learn from it. I think this team is more together than ever.”
While Kanaan's charge failed to deliver the finish he desired, the same can't be said for Danica Patrick. Starting from 23rd, Patrick hovered in the teens for most of the race, but as attrition trimmed the field and as she kept pushing, the turbulent Go Daddy-sponsored driver put in a heady drive to finish sixth. After a stormy month of off-track attention, this was just the kind of result Patrick needed.
Andretti's Ryan Hunter-Reay was poised for a top-10 finish, but he was credited with a finish of 18th after being hit by Dreyer & Reinbold's Mike Conway on the final lap. Conway launched himself off of RHR's left rear tire, catapulting the Dad's Rootbeer car into the catch fencing, shredding the car and leaving Conway with a broken left leg with injuries centered around his ankle. Conway, who led for 15 laps in the final phase of the race due to being on an alternate fuel strategy, would be classified in 19th.
The big winner for Michael Andretti came with his son's finish in third place. While Marco never had the measure of the Ganassi or Penske cars, the second-generation driver drove with maturity throughout the race, even heeding the calls to slow down and save fuel at the end of the race. Marco would be happiest if all 17 rounds of the IZOD IndyCar Series championship were held at Indy.
Just behind Andretti was Dale Coyne Racing's Alex Lloyd, who drove from 26th to fourth. Initially credited with third place, the boy Scouts of America-sponsored car was moved back to fourth after it was determined Lloyd, along with Scott Dixon and Danica Patrick, had passed Andretti under the yellow flag for the Conway/Hunter-Reay accident. Lloyd crept forward all day, and if such a thing is possible, snuck up on his finishing positions. He passed a number of cars during the race and also made the most of the race's high attrition. Regardless of how he got to fourth, it was just the boost the team -- and Lloyd -- needed.
If Franchitti's day was picture perfect, teammate Scott Dixon had the lion's share of difficulties to overcome. The 2008 Indy 500 winner saw the left front wheel come off at the Kiwi's second pit stop, dropping him back to 22nd. The efforts of dixon and team manager/strategist Mike Hull to get Dixon up to fifth was nothing short of miraculous.
Conway failed to deliver on his promising run, but his teammate, Justin Wilson, salvaged the day for Dreyer & Reinbold with a fighting seventh for the Z-Line Designs-sponsored entry. Wilson led 11 laps. Alex Tagliani's amazing Indy 500 efforts tapered off slightly as he fell back to 10th after starting fifth. Tags was slowed slightly during the pit stop where Dixon lost his left front wheel, as the B&W-sponsored car had to wait for the Target car to stop before exiting his pit stall. they surely wanted more, but it was a solid first effort for the rookie team.
Graham Rahal's day was filled with multiple trips from the front to the back of the field. A handling imbalance to start the race saw the Quick Trim driver sink from seventh to 26th, where he fought his way forward after fixing the car at the first pit stop. A black flag for blocking Dan Wheldon put paid to his run, serving a drive-though penalty his father argued with the series officials over. A long pit stop towards the end of the race took away some of the spots he'd earned back, and he was forced to settle for 12th.
Mario Romancini came home the top rookie in 13th, followed closely by rookie Simona De Silvestro. Tomas Scheckter benefited from an opportune pit stop that came just as a yellow flag fell to move forward in the field. He'd lead five laps on the way to 15th place. Like Rahal, Townsend Bell looked strong for most of the day but was forced to serve a black flag penalty for his own blocking maneuver, leaving him in 16th.
Ed Carpenter was a major factor early in the race, but suffered bad luck when he was forced to pit for enough fuel to keep running under yellow while the pits were closed after Vitor Meira's crash on Lap 105. What could have been a top-5 turned into 17th. Takuma Sato was a passenger to two crashes immediately in front of him during his first Indy 500. The Japanese driver was smooth all days long, and avoided making any mistakes on the way to 20th.
Ana Beatriz finished where she started -- 21st -- after falling far back in the opening laps. Bertrand Baguette was slowed after one of his mirrors fell off, and layer when he had an extended pit stop. Up until that point, the Belgian had driven within himself and looked like a finish in the mid-teens was in order, but finished 22nd. Baguette was the final car running at the finish.
Sebastian Saavedra suffered a nearly identical crash to the one he suffered last Sunday, ending his day on Lap 159 in 23rd place. Sato was the lone bright spot for KV Racing -- EJ Viso retired on Lap 139 and Mario Moraes hit the wall on Lap 17. Combined with Paul Tracy's DNS, it was a forgettable month for the normally proud team.
Sarah Fisher's frustrating month continued as the contacted the wall and retired on Lap 125 in 26th. Meira's crash left him in 27th, Hideki Mutoh's possessed Newman Haas car was retired on Lap 76 leaving him in 28th, and Rafa Matos pancaked his de Ferran Dragon Dallara after running as high as third. The Brazilian finished 29th. In 2009, he completed 173 laps before crashing. In 2010, he got as far as 72 laps.
Bruno Junqueira ended his day with a solo spin after trying to catch his B&W FAZZT Race Team car as it slid up the track. the 2002 polesitter finished 32nd. Davey Hamilton was credited with 33rd, completing zero laps.
Like Montoya's mastery of the 200 Indy 500, Franchitti's ownership of the 2010 event won't go down as a classic in terms of thrilling passes or a photo finish. It was brutally hot, far too many drivers crashed, and the race generally lacked a rhythm. But in-between the yellow flags, Dario Franchitti ruled the 94th running of the Greatest Spectacle on Earth. He drove around the outside of will Power in Turn 1, passed Castroneves before the end of Lap 1, and never looked back. The chronology of the speed and distance he put between Castroneves -- or whomever was in second place -- will be one of the primary things people remember about the race in years to come.
In an era where running 1/10th faster than the rest is considered a major advantage, Franchitti and his Target Chip Ganassi team turned that into a half-second advantage on most laps during the race. It was a flawless performance -- one that wasn't easy -- but having left everything he had on the racetrack today, Franchitti was deserving of everything he earned. This one will be hard for him to top.
