2011 IndyCar Rd.7--IZOD Milwaukee 225

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2011 IndyCar Rd.7--IZOD Milwaukee 225

Post by mlittle » Thu Jun 16, 2011 7:40 am

After tackling the Brickyard & the high-banks of Texas, the stars of the IndyCar Series head a little ways' northwest to the one track that is potentially as tough if not tougher to tame than the Brickyard......the legendary Milwaukee Mile. On the face of it, the three tracks couldn't be more opposite.......Indy is a 2.5-mile rectangular oval, Texas is a 1.5-mile high-banked speedway while Milwaukee is a 1-mile bullring oval........here the emphasis isn't on aero grip and straight-line speed, but on mechanical grip and downforce levels; find the right balance and you'll find yourself at the front on what is arguably one of the trickiest surfaces to race on in NA motorsports.


Past Winners at the Milwaukee Mile....................
note........winners' list dates back from 1979-present; for the entire list of winners at the Mile, here is the link for a complete list of winners at the Mile......
~~A.J. Foyt, 1979(1)
~~Roger McCluskey, 1979(2)
~~Bobby Unser, 1980(1)
~~Johnny Rutherford, 1980(2)
~~Mike Mosely, 1981(1)
~~Tom Sneva, 1981(2), 1982(2), 1983, 1984
~~Gordon Johncock, 1982(1)
~~Mario Andretti, 1985
~~Michael Andretti, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1996
~~Rick Mears, 1988, 1989
~~Al Unser, Jr., 1990, 1994
~~Nigel Mansell, 1993
~~Paul Tracy, 1995, 1999, 2002, 2005(1)
~~Greg Moore, 1997
~~Jimmy Vasser, 1998
~~Juan Pablo Montoya, 2000
~~Kenny Brack, 2001
~~Michel Jourdain, Jr., 2003
~~Ryan Hunter-Reay, 2004(1)
~~Dario Franchitti, 2004(2)
~~Sam Hornish, Jr., 2005(2)
~~Sebastien Bourdais, 2006(1)
~~Tony Kanaan, 2006(2), 2007
~~Ryan Briscoe, 2008
~~Scott Dixon, 2009
note....italics denote active IndyCar Series drivers
Last edited by mlittle on Tue Jun 21, 2011 4:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by mlittle » Thu Jun 16, 2011 7:46 am

Weekend Schedule of Events, IZOD Milwaukee 225
Practice Session 1: 3-5pm, 17 June 2011
Practice Session 2: 9:45-10:45am, 18 June 2011
Practice Session 3: 12:55-1:55pm, 18 June 2011
PEAK Pole Qualifying: 4:45pm, 18 June 2011
IZOD Milwaukee 225, 3pm-ABC Sports
all times US CDT(-1 hr US EDT/-5 hrs GMT)


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Track Map, The Milwaukee Mile
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Post by mlittle » Thu Jun 16, 2011 7:53 am

IZOD Milwaukee 225 Entrant List
Oriol Servia, #2 Telemundo-NH Racing
Helio Castroneves, #3 Guidepoint Systems
(R)J.R. Hildebrand, #4 National Guard
Takuma Sato, #5 Lotus-KV Racing
Ryan Briscoe, #6 Transitions Lenses
Danica Patrick, #7 GoDaddy.com
Scott Dixon, #9 Target
Dario Franchitti, #10 Downy
Will Power, #12 Verizon Wireless
Vitor Meira, #14 ABC Supply Co.
(R)James Jakes, #18 Acorn Stairlifts
Alex Lloyd, #19 Boy Scouts of America
Justin Wilson, #22 Dad's Root Beer-DRR
(R)Ana Beatriz, #24 Ipringa-DRR
Marco Andretti, #26 Venom Energy
Mike Conway, #27 DHL-SunDrop
Ryan Hunter-Reay, #28 GoDaddy.com
(R)Sebastien Saavedra, #34 Conquest Racing
Graham Rahal, #38 Service Central
E.J. Viso, #59 PDVSA-KV Racing
Ed Carpenter, #67 Dollar General
Alex Tagliani, #77 Bowers & Wilkins
Simona de Silvestro, #78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy
(R)Charlie Kimball, #82 Novolog-Levemir FlexPen
(R)James Hinchcliffe, #06 Sprotts-NHR
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Milwaukee News & Notes

Post by mlittle » Fri Jun 17, 2011 2:25 pm

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It's not surprising to see a smile on KV Racing's E.J. Viso following the pair of top-10 finishes he racked up on the high-banks of Texas last week.....

---MILWAUKEE – Everyone, including E.J. Viso, took notice of his drive through the field in the first race of the Firestone Twin 275s at Texas Motor Speedway when he advanced 12 positions to finish seventh.

It was Viso’s initial top 10 of the season. Then, after drawing the 29th (of 30) spot for Race 2 on the 1.5-mile oval, Viso repeated the charge by finishing 10th in the No. 59 PDVSA KV Racing Technology-Lotus car.
Fans noticed, and Viso will be rewarded in the Milwaukee 225 pre-race show with a $10k check after receiving the most votes on the Firestone Tire-ific Move of the Race (in this case races) poll on www.indycar.com.
The Firestone Twin 275s consisted of two races of 114 laps each with half the championship points awarded in each race. His previous best finish at Texas was 11th in 2010.

“It was great to finish in the top 10 in both races, especially coming from so far behind,” Viso said. “I want to thank my team. It has been a rough start to the season, but we always knew that we had the potential and finally I was able to repay them with a good finish. In the second race it was tough starting in the last row, but I was able to gain 19 places and it was a lot of fun out there. With the race being shorter than normal though, it was hard to catch the guys up front.

“I am looking forward to Milwaukee. I think we will also be fast there. It is pretty much flat and it makes the driver work a lot in the cockpit, but it is also a good track to overtake and a very fun oval. We had a good test there a couple of weeks ago, so I am looking forward to a good race and keeping the momentum we built at Texas going."

Other notes.......
Rahal seeks another top-five start, finish
In two starts at Milwaukee, Graham Rahal has started both races from the front row. “I’ve done pretty well there and I know our Service Central car will be fast,” said Rahal, who has a high finish of fourth in 2009. “We’re looking forward to gaining some positions in the championship run after this weekend.” Rahal will be a regular on SiriusXM’s College Football Playbook, which started June 15, with Jack Arute and Mike Leach.

Tires have history at Milwaukee
The Milwaukee tire specification is based off the 2009 Milwaukee race tire, with further refinement taking place at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway tire test in September 2010. It is the same tire that almost all IZOD IndyCar Series teams tested with on June 1 and June 3 at the Milwaukee Mile.
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Lots Of History Present At The Mile.........

Post by mlittle » Fri Jun 17, 2011 2:30 pm

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---Question: Which racetrack has hosted more Indycar races? Indianapolis or Milwaukee?
---Answer: The Milwaukee Mile has hosted 109 official Indycar races..........Indianapolis only 95.

Beasts have roamed the Milwaukee Mile at the Wisconsin State Fair Park. Hooves have pounded the track. Professional football players have left their blood and sweat on the infield. Throughout all of the years, nothing has left an imprint like Indy car racing. The IZOD IndyCar Series returns to the Milwaukee Mile this weekend after a year’s absence for the Milwaukee 225.

“People relate to history and the depth of the history of the track," said Danica Patrick, who will compete in the No. 7 Team GoDaddy car for Andretti Autosport. "That is what makes the Indy 500 so special and it is 100 years old. And Milwaukee is even older. So it is special to race here.”

Anyone who’s someone in auto racing has raced at the Milwaukee Mile. William Jones won the first race at the track in 1903. The list of champions includes A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Mario Andretti, producing some of the most thrilling races in history.

In the 1965 Tony Bettenhausen 200, Foyt stunned the nation when he raced his front-engine dirt car to the pole against a field of the more modern rear-engine cars. His crew had not arrived with his rear-engine car in time for qualifying, and Foyt had to tow his machine to the track and prepare it for racing himself. One the day of the race, Foyt had a shot at first before having to make a pit stop for fuel, but still finished an impressive second.

A week after winning the Indianapolis 500, Tom Sneva was the center of controversy in a 1983 Milwaukee race. After he completed a 10-second victory over Unser, fans piled on top of Sneva’s car in Victory Circle to take pictures and celebrate with the team.

As inspectors did their final look over the car, they found that Sneva’s side mount skirt was an eighth of an inch too low and gave the win to Unser. Sneva appealed that the reason the car was too low was because of the fans sitting on it, and his victory was reinstated.

Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver Scott Dixon is the defending champion of the IZOD IndyCar Series race and is eager to get back on the track. “It feels so good to come back to Milwaukee,” Dixon said. “We can really race here and the track is so good for our cars. I think everyone missed coming here last year.”

The Milwaukee 225 weekend will feature seven levels of competition, including the IZOD IndyCar Series, Firestone Indy Lights, Formula Mazda, USF2000, USAC Silver Crown, USAC Midgets and USAC .25 Midgets. The seven races will take place over Father’s Day weekend, June 18-19.
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Power Paces Field in Friday Practice

Post by mlittle » Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:23 am

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With just one long practice on Friday, teams were busy at the Mile.....

---Coming off of frustrating Indianapolis 500, Team Penske recovered nicely last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway as Will Power finished third and first in the Firestone Texas Twin 275s, and if Friday's practice session at Milwaukee is anything to go by, Power and his Penske stablemates are still on a roll. Pacing the field with a lap of 167.648 mph in his No. 12 Verizon Wireless Indy car, the Aussie edged his main championship rival, Dario Franchitti, who ran a best lap of 167.462.

The second member of the Penske camp, Helio Castroneves, completed the top 3 with a 167.368, while Scott Dixon, the defending race winner, placed his No. 9 Target car in fourth with a 167.232.

Power, Franchitti and Dixon set their best speeds within the first dozen laps, while Castroneves posted his best on the 63rd of the 93 laps he completed. The Penske/Ganassi/Penske/Ganassi dynamic was followed by Newman/Haas Racing's Oriol Servia in fifth, while Marco Andretti led the four-car Andretti Autosport clan in sixth.

Graham Rahal put another Ganassi car towards the front, running seventh, while Dreyer & Reinbold's Justin Wilson ended the day in eighth. Coming off of a successful test for the DRR team at Milwaukee, the Englishman saw his teammate, Brazilian rookie Ana Beatrix, close behind in 10th.

E.J. Viso, continuing his impressive form from Texas, split the DRR duo in ninth. Behind Beatriz, the rest of the rookie contingent placed 17th (Charlie Kimball), 19th (JR Hildebrand), 25th (Sebastian Saavedra) and 26th (James Jakes).

Of the drivers who are normally closer to the top 10, Danica Patrick split the 26-car field by setting the 13th-fastest speed, Tony Kanaan ran 14th, Ryan Briscoe ran 18th and Alex Tagliani, the Indy 500 pole winner, settled for 23rd.

Tagliani was one of two drivers to crash during practice, as he spun and lightly crashed in Turn 4 at 3:48 p.m. The French-Canadian told the Sam Schmidt Motorsports team he believed something had broken on the No. 77 Bowers & Wilkins car, but quick repairs were made and he resumed the session.

Vitor Meira did extensive damage to the No. 14 A.J. Foyt/ABC Supply machine at 4:20 pm, hitting the Turn 4 wall hard and took full blame for the crash. “I passed the limit a little bit. It stepped out and I crashed.”
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Attention To Detail Key To Power's Success.......

Post by mlittle » Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:25 am

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----MILWAUKEE -- “Details,” in Will Power’s parlance, encompass nearly every waking hour. Fitness training, phone/in-person engineering meetings, video reviews, poring over session data, iRacing.com competition at home, media obligations, etc., it’s all dedicated in moving Power to the next level. And keeping him in such standing. “Don’t sweat the details,” is anathema.

“I think you just get smarter and smarter as a driver,” said Power, 30, of Australia, who was runner-up in the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series championship. “I think you have to if you're ever going to be a champion. I think you just have to continually learn. It probably hasn't changed much from 2007 to now, my second year in Champ Car. My first year was really a learning year.

“I just feel as though each year it comes a little easier, especially if you're with the same team, crew, engineer, with the same car. Your weekend becomes easy. You just seem to have more time to work on smaller details rather than larger ones when you're trying to learn a lot.”

Power’s first IZOD IndyCar Series oval victory last week in the second 114-lap race of the Firestone Twin 275s at Texas Motor Speedway helped strengthen his championship points lead over Dario Franchitti to 21 heading into the Milwaukee 225.

He topped the speed chart in the initial practice session of the weekend with a quick lap of 167.648 mph (21.7957 seconds). “It’s always a boost when you win a race,” said Power, who’ll be in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car this weekend. “I'd have to say I was very, very excited to get my first win. It was like the first time I ever won a race is what it felt like. It was a very good feeling.”

The Milwaukee Mile is a “details” racetrack, according to Power, who competed for the first time on the mile oval in 2006 with Walker Racing (started fifth) in a Champ Car event. “I just love it. It's flat. You have to lift. You have to downshift, upshift,” said Power, who tested at the track June 3 with his Team Penske brethren and a half-dozen other drivers. “I think it's important to have on the schedule. It's a great track, a lot of history. It creates good racing because you can run a couple of lines.
I think everyone's going to be happy. Fans are going to be happy to see us race back here.”

The IZOD IndyCar Series returns to the Mile after a year’s absence. Power, a part-timer for Team Penske in ’09, didn’t compete at the track. In ’08 with KV Racing Technology, he started fourth and finished 14th.

“It's going to be 26 cars here at Milwaukee. I think it makes the racing probably better because you can't see in traffic and you have to read it well,” he said. “As long as the standard of drivers is right up there, which it is right now, you can't really pick any bad drivers out of the field.”
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Franchitti Takes The Point At the Mile.....

Post by mlittle » Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:54 am

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---Lined up to run 21st out of 26 qualifiers, Dario Franchitti nearly broke the 171 mph barrier at Milwaukee today to claim pole on the historic one-mile oval for Sunday's 225-lap race.

After a week spent grumbling about the starting procedure for the second of the Texas Twin 275 races where he drew the 28th position (and watched as championship rival Will Power drew third and won the race), Franchitti sent a not-so-subtle reminder to Power and Team Penske that when it comes to ovals, the 38-year-old is now on a mission.

The Scot's first pole of the season and first at Milwaukee came with a two-lap average speed of 170.841 mph, and after completing his harrowing run, the defending series champion said he left nothing on the table.

“That was a combination of the Target team’s skill at setting the car up, and I don’t know if it was my skill or bravery. The car was so loose for both laps. That was the best qualifying run I’ve done here. I’m happy with that. If someone goes out and beats that, good luck to them.”

The closest anyone would come was a 169.999 average, set by Penske's Helio Castroneves. One of the Captain's cars was fast on Friday, with Will Power leading the field, but in the two practice session on Saturday prior to qualifying, the three Team Penske drivers struggled to varying degrees as the Ganassi duo of Franchitti and Scott Dixon hit their stride.

Castroneves' team opted for light downforce in qualifying, but as the Brazilian shares, a bigger change was needed to move past Franchitti. “It took a little gamble. In the end of the day, one of the guys has to take a gamble and in this situation, it was me. I was very low on downforce, but not enough to be P1. I’ll take it.”

Castroneves' teammates will have work to do in the race, as Ryan Briscoe improved to qualify eighth--his best run of the weekend--while Will Power, Franchitti's closest rival, had a disastrous qualifying session, ending up 17th. “I felt pretty solid out there," said Briscoe. "We’ve been struggling to find the balance. The car felt better than it had all weekend."

Power, who had his worst qualifying result of the year after fighting an ill-handling car, did his best to mask the obvious disappointment of starting so far away from the pole. “That’s a tough qualifying result for Verizon Team Penske,” he said. “We were flat through turns one and two but we had a big moment there in turn three when we got loose and that cost us. It’s certainly not where wanted to start the race, but we know we have a good race car and we’ll put our heads down and try to make up ground tomorrow.”

Behind Castroneves, Dixon qualified third, and had a Ganassi 1-2 going until the three-time Indy 500 split the pair. “It’s a pretty decent qualifying effort by us," said the Kiwi. "Hopefully we can have a good weekend for both [Target Chip Ganassi] cars this weekend.”

KV Racing-Lotus has maintained the pace and performance it displayed at Texas last weekend, as Tony Kanaan led the three-car team in qualifying with a strong run to fourth. Teammates Takuma Sato (fifth) and E.J. Viso (sixth) gave the team its best overall qualifying performance of the year.

The cagey Brazilian, however, wanted more from his qualifying run, but was still pleased to be starting from the second row. "The car is pretty decent this weekend," said Kanaan. "I have to say that I am so happy to be back at Milwaukee, I have missed the butterfly in my stomach feeling and getting out of the car shaking a little after qualifying...it's a real race track. I'll tell you, not bad today for an old man and a young team.”

Viso thanked his team for his third-row qualifying result. “We’ve done a great progression with the car," said the Venezuelan. "We, as a team, have created great cars so far. Give the credit to the KV Racing team. They’ve worked very hard.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay expected to start closer to the front, and will start seventh, the first of Andretti Autosport's four entries. “It was pretty good," he said. "I thought it was going to be a lot quicker than that, though. I’m looking forward to being back at Milwaukee. It’s excellent for the IndyCar Series.”

With his teammate Marco Andretti in ninth, Danica Patrick in 15th and Mike Conway--who has been completely off the mark on the ovals this year--in 20th, the group still has a lot of improving to do if it hopes to challenge Ganassi or Penske away from the road and street courses. "I'm disappointed we didn't have the speed we were looking for today," said Patrick. "I was hopeful that after our solid practice sessions that the GoDaddy.com car would have qualified better. We will have to work hard tomorrow to work our way through the field."

Oriol Servia qualified 10th in his Newman/Haas Racing entry using a race setup. “Those were the only two laps I have ever done completely flat at this place," he said. "We did a great job with the setup and the car felt good but that is all we had. We didn’t trim the car for qualifying and it looks like everyone else did so we probably should have. I am very happy with the Telemundo car though; I think it will be good in the race."

Servia's rookie teammate, James Hinchcliffe, used the Catalonian's setup to try and find more pace in the No. 06 Sprott-sponsored car. "We had a little bit of a rough last practice," said the young Canadian, who will start 16th. "It's a big improvement over what we did this morning. We can be pleased with that."

Dreyer & Reinbold maintained its place from practice, earning 11th on the grid, but it was Ana Beatriz who led the team's efforts, rather than veteran Justin Wilson, who will start 13th.

Of the remaining qualifiers, Alex Lloyd impressed in 14th in his Dale Coyne Racing entry, while a few drivers continued to have a miserable experience at Milwaukee. Alex Tagliani, who crashed on Friday, could only muster enough speed to earn 19th on the grid.

“It’s been a pretty difficult weekend so far," said the French-Canadian who earned pole position at the last two rounds. "Obviously we’re struggling a bit with the car. The car seems a little better than it has been all weekend. We’ll go back to the trailer and regroup.”

Ed Carpenter, who starred in the No. 67 Sarah Fisher Racing car at Indy, has been mired at the bottom of the time sheets all weekend, and his fortunes didn't change in qualifying. "Our qualifying run wasn't good," he said. "We're just not having a very good weekend. It's been a discouraging one. We've been chasing the car all weekend, and it was the best it's been during my qualifying run, but we've still got a lot of work to do." Carpenter will start on the last row in 25th.

The only driver to crash during qualifying was HVM Racing's Simona De Silvestro whose tough post-Indy run continued as she hit fairly hard in Turn 4, and then came across the track to strike the inside wall from behind. De Silvestro was transported to a local hospital, complaining of stiffness.

"She's OK," HVM team owner Keith Wiggins told SPEED.com early Saturday evening. "They took her to the hospital for cautionary reasons and took X-Rays and she's OK. She should be on her way back to the circuit now. The car's not that bad. It's repairable. It's not what she needed and she's trying to rebuild her confidence, but we'll be ready to race tomorrow." The next step for De Silvestro will be to seek clearance to drive from the IndyCar medical team.

Results of qualifying Saturday for the Milwaukee 225 IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 1.015-mile Milwaukee Mile, with starting position, car number in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, and speed:
1. (10) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 170.841
2. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 169.999

3. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 169.582
4. (82) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 169.365

5. (5) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 169.308
6. (59) EJ Viso, Dallara-Honda, 169.082

7. [28] Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 169.014
8. (6) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 168.598

9. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 168.456
10. (2) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 168.320

11. (24) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 167.863
12. [38] Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 167.674

13. (22) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 167.621
14. (19) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 167.162

15. (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 166.779
16. (06) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 166.558

17. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 166.248
18. (4) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Honda, 166.070

19. (77) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 166.031
20. (27) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 166.003

21. (83) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 165.592
22. (14) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 165.375

23. [18] James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 164.814
24. (34) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Honda, 164.440

25. (67) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 163.304
26. (78) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, no speed
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Franchitti Wins At the Mile........

Post by mlittle » Tue Jun 21, 2011 4:36 pm

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Sometimes its' better to be lucky then good as Speed's Robin Miller reported Sunday in Milwaukee........
----The saying "I'd rather be lucky than good" applied to Dario Franchitti in both directions on Sunday after the Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver deftly moved between being lucky and good during The Milwaukee 225.

Franchitti set the fastest lap and led the most laps at Milwaukee on Sunday, but it took a crash by Tony Kanaan and a cut tire by Helio Castroneves late in the event for the back-to-back IZOD IndyCar Series champion to win his third race of 2011.

Leading from pole, Franchitti appeared to have it easy during the first stint, pulling out as much as 5.9 seconds over Castroneves by Lap 33, but as the Scot found repeatedly, his No. 10 car was untouchable in the first half of a run but struggled for pace as his fuel load lightened.

Kanaan made two strong passes to take the lead from his former teammate during the race, and sat in second with just over 30 laps to go while Castroneves, who leapfrogged his way to first during a Lap 167 pit stop, held the point.

Franchitti, dealing with an excessive amount of understeer, ran third and watched as Kanaan applied too much throttle in Turn 4 on Lap 194, which sent the No. 82 KV Racing-Lotus driver into the wall.

Promoted to second, Franchitti then watched as Castroneves was forced to surrender the lead during the caution period for Kanaan's crash to replace his left rear tire, which had been slowly deflating.

With his two main rivals out of the way, Franchitti led home Graham Rahal by 1.4 seconds to win for the second time in a week. “That was a hell of a run today," said the two-time Indy 500 winner, who drew even with Power on points. "The first part of the race I thought we had an advantage over everybody. Tony came marching along and he looked really strong. And then Helio joins the party and does his usual blocking crap. It was a great day. To win here at Milwaukee is so special.”

Rahal, who has been particularly good on the ovals this year, continues to gain confidence in his team. “It felt great out there. To come from 12th, [to] move up like that…we were able to do it and I’m really proud of my boys. Time and time again we prove we can compete and run up front.”

Oriol Servia, who started 10th, moved to third, fell back to 12th during a slow pit stop, then fought his way back to third at the finish, claiming his first podium of the year. “We’ve been close to the podium so many times; things don’t come easy," he said. "The car was just amazing and the restarts were a lot of fun. I had my first podium with [Newman/Haas Racing at Milwaukee] in 2005. It was just a great race for us.”

Team Penske's Will Power, who started 17th, used a late run to get as high as third, but could not stop Servia's march on the final restart and settled for fourth, 3.8 seconds behind Franchitti.

Danica Patrick also featured on Sunday, earning the best finish for Andretti Autosport with fifth while looking competitive in the second half of the race. Her duel with Newman/Haas Racing rookie James Hinchcliffe provided to be some of the best action of the day, with the Go Daddy-sponsored driver getting the better of the young Canadian, who secured his best oval finish in sixth.

"Every weekend I want to go win," said Patrick. "My goal was top 7, so finishing in the top 5 is great. My day would have been even better if those last three yellows hadn't come out. I really took care of my equipment. Once the yellows came out, everything started going backwards. That's the way it goes. From here, we'll look forward to Iowa next weekend."

Hinchcliffe, the highest-placed rookie, was pleased with his day. "We were able to drive around some people, had some great, great pit stops; the crew was unbelievable," he said. "To get a top 6 at a track like this on your first crack at it is something we can be pretty happy with."

The 225-lap race was green for only a few seconds before Ryan Hunter-Reay brought out the yellow after a solo crash on cold tires in Turn 1. The Andretti Autosport driver was uninjured, and the race restarted on Lap 7 where Franchitti streaked away from Castroneves in clean air.

By Lap 25, Power had yet to make any progress forward, holding 17th while Oriol Servia had moved to seventh. With Franchitti, Castroneves and Kanaan running up front, Power eventually started moving up, reaching 14th by Lap 52.

Servia benefited from Scott Dixon being held up in traffic, and would move up more after the second yellow flag flew when Ana Beatriz got wide and lightly touched the Turn 4 wall when Franchitti lapped the Dreyer & Reinbold car.

The restart would find Franchitti leading Kanaan, Servia and Castroneves. By Lap 100, the Ganassi driver held a 3.2-second lead over Kanaan and it began to look like the No. 10 car could lead every lap on the way to a clear win. That changed on Lap 116 as Kanaan used lapped traffic to cut the distance to Franchitti, making the pass for the lead in Turn 1.

In a repeat of his Indy 500 accident, JR Hildebrand crashed out of the race in Turn 4 on Lap 120 after leader Tony Kanaan went underneath him and the young Californian slid up into the marbles. Hildebrand was two laps down in 19th at the time of the crash. “We were really struggling out there," he said. "I kind of had nowhere to go but up into the marbles. I’m really bummed for the Panther Racing team.”

The ensuing round of pit stops saw Ryan Briscoe as the big winner, emerging in fifth, while Servia lost nine spots and fell to 12th. Kanaan's lead lasted until Turn 1 on the Lap 135 restart as Franchitti made a bold pass on the inside and held P1 for 19 laps before Kanaan got him back on Lap 154.

Behind them, Graham Rahal and James Hinchcliffe had been moving forward, with Hinch dueling with Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti before passing both cars. Rahal also moved up to fifth by the time E.J. Viso crashed on Lap 163.

Just as he'd done in Texas, Viso was a fixture in the top 10, but it was all for naught as a minor wheel banging incident with Ed Carpenter sent the PDVSA-sponsored KV Racing-Lotus car hard into the Turn 4 wall. “I’m very, very depressed," he said. "I brushed Carpenter’s tires and it put me up into the wall. I’m not blaming him.”

The Lap 167 pit stop—the final stop for most of the field—saw Castroneves come out first, with Kanaan in second, Franchitti in third and Hinchcliffe in fourth. Castroneves led the cars to the green on the Lap 175 restart, as Kanaan lost then regained second from Franchitti, with Rahal in fourth and Will Power, who seemed to appear from nowhere, close behind in fifth.

If Franchitti looked like a surefire winner earlier in the race, the bet was on Castroneves to take the victory provided he could hold off the charging Kanaan, but that scenario was quickly solved when the 2004 series champion got on the throttle too hard in Turn 4, spun and flattened the left side of his KV Racing-Lotus car against the SAFER barrier. After having three cars solidly in the top 10 at one point, KV was down to one car--Takuma Sato--by Lap 194.

Prior to Kanaan's crash, Castroneves was unknowingly dealing with a slow puncture in his left rear tire. His lap speeds barely reflected the problem he was having, but Team Penske had no choice but to call him in on Lap 199 for fresh rubber. “They were trying to talk to me about it but I couldn’t hear anything," said Castroneves, who was oblivious to the deflating tire. "I was just going to keep going. We should be up there [in Victory Lane], but it [wasn't] meant to be.” Castroneves would eventually finish ninth.

The Lap 205 restart saw Franchitti lead Rahal and Power, but Servia made quick work of the Aussie to grab third. From there, the four drivers would finish in formation, with Franchitti leveling the points table with his Team Penske rival. With Patrick in fifth and Hinchcliffe in sixth, Scott Dixon was less than impressed to finish so far down in seventh after a mix of handling problems and time lost on a visit to the pits.

Takuma Sato made a complete mess of his pit stop during the second caution, pulling into the pit boxes prematurely—about 4 stalls ahead of where his KV team was waiting—blocking Dixon from entering his pit stall and hitting a tire, that bounced off the pit wall and launched onto the high lane.

Sato followed that error by hitting one of his crew members when he finally arrived at his pit stall, which sent another tire spinning. Sato would recover to finish eighth, and after enduring a tough race and a tough week after his father passed away, the Japanese driver will look to Iowa to wipe the slate clean.

Of the rest of the runners, Justin Wilson gave the Dad's Root Beer car a thorough flogging to finish 10th, and James Jakes did a good job of running clean on his way to 15th when so many others found the wall. Ed Carpenter took his Dollar General-sponsored car forward from 25th to 16th, while Alex Tagliani held onto an ill-handling chassis from start to finish to claim 18th.

Alex Lloyd spun his boy Scouts of America car on his own on Lap 79, taking Sebastian Saavedra with him as the Colombian rookie had nowhere to go to avoid the Dale Coyne Racing car. Vitor Meira parked his A.J. Foyt Racing/ABC Supply car with handling maladies--something he'd encountered the entire weekend, and Simona De Silvestro, after suffering a hard crash on Saturday, climbed out of her Nuclear Clean Air Energy-sponsored car after just 11 laps. "Throughout the day, I thought I was ready to get out there, but it only took a lap or two to realize that I wasn't," she said. "It's tough because the team worked so hard last night to repair the car. I'm proud of them and thankful that they were willing to put in the hard work it took to be ready when the green flag dropped. Now I'm just going to focus on getting ready for the next race."

Power made an amazing recovery to crack the top 5 by the end of the race, but Franchitti spent the entire race toward the front and pounced when the opportunity to win presented itself. It's easy to be impressed by Power's drive, and he deserves a lot of praise for the blend of patience and bravado he displayed, but he and his Team Penske crew can't afford to make it so easy on Franchitti if they want to take his crown.


Top-10 from the historic Milwaukee Mile............
1st} #10 Dario Franchitti, 225 laps
2nd} #38 Graham Rahal, -1.427 sec
3rd} #2 Oriol Servia, -2.770 sec
4th} #12 Will Power, -3.876 sec
5th} #7 Danica Patrick, -4.229 sec
6th}(R)#06 James Hinchcliffe, -5.202 sec
7th} #9 Scott Dixon, -5.781 sec
8th} #5 Takuma Sato, -6.101 sec
9th} #3 Helio Castroneves, -6.346 sec
10th} #22 Justin Wilson, -6.891 sec
The Sci-Fi Station Come by and visit when you get the chance. :)
The Wayward Tarheel I'm even in the blogosphere.... :shock:

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