2010 IRL Rd.15--Kentucky Indy 300

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2010 IRL Rd.15--Kentucky Indy 300

Post by mlittle » Sat Sep 04, 2010 5:21 am

Race - Kentucky Indy 300

Location - Kentucky Speedway, Sparta, KY
Date - Saturday, September 4th
Time & TV Schedule - 8:00PM Eastern -Green Flag -9:00PM Eastern -Versus
Course Type - 1.5 Mile Oval
Distance - 200 Laps / 300 Miles
Practice Sessions - Friday, Sept. 3rd -10:15AM -11:15AM & 7:00PM -7:30PM Eastern
Qualifications - Friday, Sept. 3rd - 1:30PM - 3:00PM Eastern
2009 Pole Sitter - Scott Dixon -(Qualifications rained out, set by points)
2009 Winner - Ryan Briscoe


PAST WINNERS AT KENTUCKY
--Buddy Lazier(2): 2000, 2001
--Felipe Giaffone(1): 2002
--Sam Hornish, Jr.(2): 2003, 2006
--Adrian Fernandez(1): 2004
--Scott Sharp(1): 2005
--Tony Kanaan(1): 2007
--Scott Dixon(1): 2008
--Ryan Briscoe(1): 2009
Last edited by mlittle on Mon Sep 06, 2010 4:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by mlittle » Sat Sep 04, 2010 5:22 am

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TrackMap, Kentucky Motor Speedway


1.5 Mile Oval
--Turns -14 degrees
--Tri-Oval- 8-10 degrees
--Short Straight - 4 degrees
--Track Width - 70 feet
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Post by mlittle » Sat Sep 04, 2010 5:28 am

Kentucky Indy 300 Entry List
Raphael Matos, #2 HP-McAfee
Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske
Dan Wheldon, #4 National Guard
(R)Takuma Sato, #5 Lotus-KV Racing
Ryan Briscoe, #6 Team Penske
Danica Patrick, #7 GoDaddy.com
E.J. Viso, #8 PDVSA
Scott Dixon, #9 Target
Dario Franchitti, #10 Target
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11
Will Power, #12 Verizon Wireless
Vitor Meira, #14 ABC Supply Co.
Milka Duno, #18 CITGO
(R)Alex Lloyd, #19 Boy Scouts of America
Ed Carpenter, #20 Fuzzy's Vodka
Justin Wilson, #22 Z-Line Designs
Paul Tracy, #24 GEICO
Marco Andretti, #26 Venom Energy
Mario Moraes, #32 KV Racing
(R)Bertrand Baguette, #34 RAC Belgium
Tomas Scheckter, #36 Mona Vie
Ryan Hunter-Reay, #37 IZOD
Graham Rahal, #66 Service Central
Sarah Fisher, #67 Dollar General
Alex Tagliani, #77 Bowers & Wilkins
(R)Simona de Silvestro, #78 Team Stargate Worlds
Hideki Mutoh, #06 Panasonic-NH Racing
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Post by mlittle » Sat Sep 04, 2010 3:44 pm

Kentucky Friday Morning Practice Times
1. 10 Dario Franchitti Chip Ganassi Racing 24.4955 217.509
2. 3 Helio Castroneves Team Penske 24.5183 0.0228 0.0228 217.307
3. 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 24.5482 0.0299 0.0527 217.042
4. 4 Dan Wheldon Panther Racing 24.5494 0.0012 0.0539 217.032
5. 6 Ryan Briscoe Team Penske 24.5882 0.0388 0.0927 216.689
6. 11 Tony Kanaan Andretti Autosport 24.6060 0.0178 0.1105 216.533
7. 32 Mario Moraes KV Racing Technology 24.6061 0.0001 0.1106 216.532
8. 14 Vitor Meira A.J. Foyt Enterprises 24.6179 0.0118 0.1224 216.428
9. 26 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport 24.6265 0.0086 0.1310 216.352
10. 12 Will Power Team Penske 24.6485 0.0220 0.1530 216.159
11. 7 Danica Patrick Andretti Autosport 24.6507 0.0022 0.1552 216.140
12. 37 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport 24.6544 0.0037 0.1589 216.107
13. 20 Ed Carpenter Panther Racing/Vision 24.6684 0.0140 0.1729 215.985
14. 19 Alex Lloyd* Dale Coyne Racing 24.6842 0.0158 0.1887 215.847
15. 5 Takuma Sato* KV Racing Technology 24.6868 0.0026 0.1913 215.824
16. 2 Raphael Matos de Ferran Luczo Dragon Racing 24.7167 0.0299 0.2212 215.563
17. 36 Tomas Scheckter Conquest Racing 24.7242 0.0075 0.2287 215.497
18. 77 Alex Tagliani FAZZT Race Team 24.7301 0.0059 0.2346 215.446
19. 34 Bertrand Baguette* Conquest Racing 24.7681 0.0380 0.2726 215.115
20. 67 Sarah Fisher Sarah Fisher Racing 24.7960 0.0279 0.3005 214.873
21. 22 Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 24.8246 0.0286 0.3291 214.626
22. 8 E.J. Viso KV Racing Technology 24.8738 0.0492 0.3783 214.201
23. 78 Simona De Silvestro* Team Stargate Worlds/HVM 24.9016 0.0278 0.4061 213.962
24. 06 Hideki Mutoh Newman/Haas Racing 24.9328 0.0312 0.4373 213.694
25. 24 Paul Tracy Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 24.9797 0.0469 0.4842 213.293
26. 66 Graham Rahal Sarah Fisher Racing 25.0829 0.1032 0.5874 212.416
27. 18 Milka Duno Dale Coyne Racing 25.3171 0.2342 0.8216 210.451
*--series rookie
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Carpenter Takes Surprise Pole at Kentucky

Post by mlittle » Sat Sep 04, 2010 3:48 pm

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It's only fitting that the stepson of IRL founder Tony George will lead the field the the green flag tomorrow to start the 200th IndyCar race. Ed Carpenter, always a threat on the ovals, scored his first IZOD IndyCar Series pole position today at Kentucky, out pacing championship leader Will Power with an average speed of 217.933 mph.

"I love this track and this area," he said. "I won one of my national midget races in Louisville and won a lot of sprint car races in Salem, Ind. The southern Indiana/Kentucky region seems to be good to me for some reason. The way I kind of look at it, I’m trying to keep my career going so every minute I’m in the car. I have to do the best that I can and get the most out of it. I’m just having a lot of fun right now; the Panther team is going a great job in addition with the Vision Racing part of it. It’s just a lot of fun."

Power came close to earning his second oval pole position of his career, clocking an average of 217.829 mph, but Carpenter moved his No. 20 Fuzzy's Vodka Panther Racing Dallara-Honda to the point in the latter stages of time trials for the Kentucky Indy 300. Rain added to a highly altered track surface for qualifying, with the majority of the drivers complaining about wind gusts and not having enough grip.

While most drivers made it through the loose qualifying conditions unscathed, Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay clouted the wall, and his teammate, 2004 series champion Tony Kanaan, came close to matching the impact, but just managed to keep his 7-Eleven car off of the barriers.

Dan Wheldon, second-place finisher at Chicago last weekend, will start directly behind his teammate, Carpenter, adding to his late season momentum. "It was obviously a great job by everybody at the National Guard Panther Racing team and we’ve been enjoying the good run we’ve had the last few races," he said. "It’s such a great benefit to have Ed Carpenter with us this weekend in the Fuzzy’s Vodka car. Ed’s been a great addition and he’s really helped the team, as you can see by our performance.

"It’s going to be a hectic race again and I’m excited for that. Hopefully we can go one position better than we did last race in the No. 4 car but that’s not to underestimate the competition; it’s extremely competitive out there and I’m just having a lot of fun right now.”

In a reversal of qualifying fortunes at Chicago, Target Chip Ganassi's Scott Dixon posted the fourth fastest speed, while his teammate Dario Franchitti was relegated to 11th. At Chicago, it was Franchitti starting second and Dixon 15th. Back to one car this weekend, Newman Haas impressed with Hideki Mutoh, while the real shocker in qualifying, Conquest Racing's Bertrand Baguette, took an amazing sixth-place starting position with an average speed of 216.988 mph.

"I must admit I was a bit surprised with our speed," said Baguette. "It’s faster than I thought it would be because we didn’t do any qualifying runs in practice. I made a small mistake on my second lap that cost us some speed so I didn’t think at the end of my qualifying laps that we would end up P6 on the grid."

Conquest's strong form continued with Tomas Scheckter, back for his second race with the talented but underfunded team, claiming 10th. Mario Moraes led the KV Racing trio, placing seventh, while Takuma Sato took 14th and E.J. Viso earned the 22nd-best speed.

Behind Moraes, the two remaining Team Penske entries of Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe took eighth and ninth, with the aforementioned Scheckter closing out the top-10.

With Hunter-Reay's accident and Kanaan's poor qualifying run, the fortunes for the other two Andretti Autosport drivers weren't much better. Marco Andretti led the four-car squadron with a run to 15th, while Danica Patrick slotted in two spots behind in 17th.

Hunter-Reay, who was unhurt in the accident, described what took place leading up to his crash. "We took a pretty aggressive approach to qualifying. The track gripped up and definitely got looser. That, combined with the changes we made - the car was just too loose. It gave me a little warning sign down in turns three and four, and then coming into (turn) one it did a big wiggle and that was it."

Patrick did her best to remain positive despite having so many positions to make up in the race. "I know as a whole team we thought our cars were better than how we qualified today. I was having a solid run on the first lap until turns three and four where I had a major washout. I'm not sure if the strong wind played a part in it or what. During tomorrow night's race I'm going to have to be patient and work the GoDaddy car through the field to get the result we want."

Of the other frustrated drivers after qualifying, Paul Tracy will start 23rd, sandwiched between the crash prone Venezuelan tag team of Viso and Milka Duno.

Graham Rahal, bristling after qualifying 25th, commented that his No. 66 Sarah Fisher Racing entry was lacking 7 mph in top speed compared to his teammate, Fisher, who piloted the No. 67 Dollar General car to 21st in qualifying. Rahal, who is filling the seat normally occupied by Jay Howard, likely vindicated the English rookie who has never qualified better than 21st in the No. 66.
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Castroneves Wins Fuel Race in Kentucky

Post by mlittle » Mon Sep 06, 2010 4:07 pm

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Two years ago, Team Penske's Helio Castroneves lost on a late-race fuel gambit.............Saturday night, he won on a late-race fuel gambit


----SPARTA, Ky. – Helio Castroneves’ No. 3 Team Penske car had just enough ethanol in the tank to pull into Victory Circle at Kentucky Speedway. Just enough was good enough to take a surprising victory in the Kentucky Indy 300.

It was surprising because a pit lane miscommunication on Lap 85 forced race strategist Tim Cindric to bring Castroneves back in four laps later to check if the right-rear tire was properly secured. It was surprising because Cindric rolled the dice and brought Castroneves in to top off on the final opportunity to pit under caution. It was surprising because with 35 laps left Castroneves was running 10th. And it was surprising because the driver then had to hit fuel mileage numbers while still trying to make up ground with cars traveling 217 mph-plus buzzing around.

The victory in the 200th Indy Racing League event even caught the three-time Indianapolis 500 champion a little off-guard. “You have to remember it is 200 laps,” said Castroneves, who jokingly referred to this as his third victory (black flagged in the final laps at Edmonton) of the season. Because he pitted on Lap 147 -- two laps later than the lead pack thanks to previous off-sequence stop -- he was able to out-fuel the front-runners (most of whom needed a splash in the final five laps).

“Unfortunately, we had an issue with our pit stop, but we started to make ground and head to the front,” he said. “I tried to stay steady and saving fuel. All of a sudden, (Cindric) says ‘Try to make this number.’ I was like, ‘That's going to be impossible, man.’ He was already thinking to make a number that would be very difficult. But when we pitted the last time, he just said you've got to make this number because we have nothing to lose, and it’s definitely going to pay off. I remember in 2008 here I ran out of fuel and finished in second (to Scott Dixon). This time it paid off for Team Penske. We were loose in the beginning, but at the end it was meant to be.”

Officially, it was win No. 2 for Castroneves, who overtook teammate Ryan Briscoe for fourth in the championship standings with two races left. Pole sitter Ed Carpenter finished second at the track for the second year in a row and Panther/Vision Racing teammate Dan Wheldon was third.

“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, who led a field-high 93 laps and finished second to Dario Franchitti a week earlier at Chicagoland Speedway. “Having Ed on board is a fantastic addition and we have a great relationship. The ending was unfortunate. I am bummed that the race didn’t turn out different, but it will motivate us for the last two races.” Added Carpenter: I think Dan and I can honestly say we had the best cars in the race. But that's racing. The best car doesn't always win."

Tony Kanaan charged from 26th in the 27-car field to fourth and Franchitti was fifth. “I promised my fans on Twitter that I was going to pass 11 cars on the first lap and I only got 10, so I want to apologize to all of my followers that I couldn’t do it,” Kanaan said. “But it was a great race. I worked with Marco (Andretti) and Ryan (Hunter-Reay) so well. Congratulations to Helio, but I don’t really like strategy races. I think Dan deserved this one, but it is what it is.”

Franchitti closed the IZOD IndyCar Series championship points gap on Will Power, who finished eighth, to 17. Twin Ring Motegi, where Power hasn’t competed and Franchitti has finished second and third his past two visits, is up next (Sept. 19). The finale is Oct. 2 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“The Verizon car was great out front,” said Power, who started on the front row and led 83 laps. “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.”

Marco Andretti earned a second consecutive top 10, with Scott Dixon following in seventh. Danica Patrick finished ninth and Bertrand Baguette posted his season best in 10th. Paul Tracy, competing at the track for the first time, was 10th with 10 laps left. But he was one of the fuel-starved and pitted on Lap 194. He finished 12th, one position behind Dreyer & Reinbold Racing teammate Justin Wilson.

"That was a lot of work for a ninth-place finish,” said Patrick, who posted her sixth top 10 of the season. “I had a good car all night and was running with the lead pack the entire time. Right before the final pit stop I was in the top six so I thought it would end up playing out that way. My GoDaddy guys did a great job tonight and I really appreciate all their hard work."


Top-10 from Kentucky..................
1} #3 Helio Castroneves, 200 laps
2} #20 Ed Carpenter, -13.160 sec
3} #4 Dan Wheldon, -13.921 sec
4} #11 Tony Kanaan, -13.993 sec
5} #10 Dario Franchitti, -14.197 sec
6} #26 Marco Andretti, -14.567 sec
7} #9 Scott Dixon, -15.102 sec
8} #12 Will Power, -15.602 sec
9} #7 Danica Patrick, -15.849 sec
10}(R)#34 Bertrand Baguette, -1 lap
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