Ryan Briscoe celebrates with a burnout after winning the IZOD IndyCar Series Firestone 550k at Texas Motor Speedway.
-----Roger Penske, wearing a tan Stetson in Texas Motor Speedway’s Victory Circle, hugged Ryan Briscoe about a long and as close as he did in 2008 when the Aussie driver gave Team Penske its 200th victory at The Milwaukee Mile.
After an Indianapolis 500 that started with promise but ended in the SAFER Barrier, Briscoe appreciated the show of support. He definitely earned it on the fast and furious 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway oval.
Briscoe, who started from the pole, overtook Danica Patrick on Lap 193 and held off the Andretti Autosport veteran over the remaining 35 laps to win the Firestone 550K on a heated night when sparks and tempers flared. Marco Andretti finished third for the second consecutive race and Scott Dixon, the 2008 race winner, finished fourth.
Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dario Franchitti was fifth, ending the two-year streak of the Indianapolis 500 winner repeating the feat at Texas the same year. Franchitti, though, moved to the front of the IZOD IndyCar Series championship standings by three points over Will Power, who finished 14th because of a late splash for fuel. Dixon is 11 points back.
Briscoe had started and finished third at Texas in 2008 and started next to pole sitter Helio Castroneves and was runner-up to his teammate in 2009. Entering the race, he was sitting seventh in the standings and was the only driver out of the Team Penske triumvirate not to post a victory this season.
So the greeting from “The Captain,” who won for the sixth time at Texas, was especially gratifying. “Racing for this team, there’s no better feeling than pulling into Victory Circle and getting compliments from Roger,” said Briscoe, who took the series championship down to the final few laps of the ’09 season finale and finished third overall. “He’s such an amazing person and I want to keep winning races for this team.”
Briscoe picked up 53 points (a bonus point for winning the PEAK Performance Pole Award and two points for leading a field-high 102 laps) to jump to fifth in the standings (38 points arrears). “We always come here with confidence that we have good cars and the stats show that,” he said. “This is a huge win. Not only for winning, but to get this championship rolling for the No. 6 car. It’s been a really difficult start to the season for this team. It’s so competitive this year. It’s not easy to run consistently in the top 3 or 5.”
Patrick, running second to Briscoe between Laps 170 and 189, took the point as the top half of the field cycled through the final round of pit stops. “Danica got by us and I didn’t want to make any aggressive moves and block,” Briscoe said. “I gained some momentum on the next lap, used the push-to-pass and was able to pass her out of Turn 4 and into Turn 1. She gave us a real run for our money tonight. It was fun racing side-by-side with her.”
Patrick, driving the No. 7 Team GoDaddy.com entry, led her first lap of the season and posted her best finish since winning at Twin Ring Motegi in April 2008. It also was her first top 5 of the season, and her first since Richmond late last June. Patrick, who started eighth, said the race “was my best from top to bottom. It was a good weekend last weekend in Indy and it was a good weekend here in Texas,” she said. “Sometimes the little victories that I have throughout the season are not necessarily obvious on the track. Maybe they’re in other aspects of what I’m doing, winning little victories here and there to get everything in line to perform from top to bottom on race day. I’ve been working hard all season. It’s just really nice to have a result to show how hard I’ve been working and how hard the team has been working as well.”
Teammate Tony Kanaan, who charged from 33rd to 11th at Indianapolis, advanced from his 13th starting position to finish sixth in the Team 7-Eleven car. Ryan Hunter-Reay, the fourth Andretti Autosport car, also was a big gainer – 17 positions to seventh in the No. 37 IZOD entry. Alex Lloyd, who surprised quite a few with a fourth place at Indianapolis in the No. 19 Boy Scouts of America car for Dale Coyne Racing, had another strong race in finishing eighth.
Dan Wheldon, the Indy 500 runner-up, was ninth in the No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing car, and Vitor Meira finished 10th after starting 19th in the No. 14 ABC Supply car for A.J. Foyt Racing. Castroneves, who started fifth in the No. 3 Team Penske car, exited on Lap 129 when he attempted to overtake the No. 32 KV Racing Technology car driven by Mario Moraes on the frontstretch. Wheels touched and the cars spun, with Bertrand Baguette in the No. 36 Conquest Racing RACB car having nowhere to go but between the spinning cars. He didn't fare so well.
Castroneves was without radio communication with his spotter and the pit stand. Said Moraes: “I couldn’t hear my spotter say anyone was on the outside. Then I got hit and started spinning. I thought I was by myself. It is a tough one for the KV Racing team. We have to get ready for Iowa now.”
Simona De Silvestro suffered a minor burn on her right hand when the No. 78 Team Stargate Worlds/HVM Racing car made contact with the SAFER Barrier exiting Turn 2 on Lap 99. “The car was pretty loose for a couple of laps,” said De Silvestro, who was competing in her third oval race. “It was pretty hard coming out of Turn 2. I was able to catch it a couple of times but this time it got away from me and I hit the wall. The car caught on fire and it wasn’t really extinguishing. I feel bad for the guys because the car was pretty good, just a little loose. Now I know what a loose car is.”
