Joliet, IL: In what should go down in history as one of the great open wheel races of all time, 2 time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves blasted from dead-last starting position to nip new IRL champion Scott Dixon in a photo finish that even fooled the electronic scoring system!
Castroneves, who was forced to start shotgun on the field after violating the white line rule in time trials, wasted little time improving his situation, moving from 28th starting position into 10th place by lap 20. The inspired Brazilian was running sixth by lap 50, and was scored in third place by lap 70. Incredibly, after a round of pit stops on lap 77, Helio and the amazing Team Penske assumed the lead! From this point on, Castroneves ran consistently in the top three until the end.
Amazingly, this victory marks the first oval win for Castroneves since the final IRL event run at the Michigan International Speedway in July, 2006!
In his post race interview, Helio expressed his feelings after learning he had won: “I found out when I was walking to the podium to receive the second-place finish. I actually thought I really won it, but sometimes when you’re going 215 mph it’s hard for me to see in the blink of an eye. But what a great effort by Team Penske. Ryan (Briscoe) helped me out tremendously. We put ourselves in that situation today. And I’m sure next year is going to be a lot of fun as well, so I can’t wait for 2009.” (About coming from last to first) “We tried to keep everything that happened behind and keep racing. I had no doubt that we’d have a good car. It was a big task but, like I said, we believed, we did everything possible. But unfortunately Scott (Dixon) was right there, too. I have to congratulate Team Ganassi, but what a great fi nish, what a wild race. It was kind of a little close, but I’m extremely happy for the way it came out here.”
Race runner-up and new IRL Champion Scott Dixon then was asked to discribe his feelings after a great season: (About the race) “We were trying to work out where we needed to be, and I think I got a little complacent in the middle there. Some of those guys are so quick, some people we didn’t expect to be racing with. We got shuffled back in line a little bit, but what a great day. I still can’t believe it.” (About whether or not this trumps his championship in 2003) “Yeah, I think it does. We had to go through the cycles. In ’03 we really knew what we won, but today was so emotional for the team. Everyone at Team Target worked together to make it happen. My hat’s off to them.” (About tough years in his career) “Yeah, it was so tough in those years. I think we tried to forget about them, but I think those years have made the team what it is today. I think those yea rs were tough, but you’ve got to have those years to make sure that you
come back and work hard. I’ve got to thank Chip (Ganassi) for keeping me around. It was a revolving door there for awhile. I’ve got to thank my teammate, Dan (Wheldon). He was a great help today.”
The Peak Antifreeze 300 began under beautiful conditions, featuring partly cloudy skies, with polesitter Ryan Briscoe assuming the lead over quick-starting Tony Kanaan. The two leaders ran wheel-to-wheel for the first 10 laps, in what appeared to be a VERY fast, non-stop pace lap! Just behind, Scott Dixon and Danica Patrick were engaged in their own side by side struggle. Finally, by the 10th round, the front of the pack began to run single file, as everyone started to breath again.
Behind the leaders, the action was equally fierce. Fourteenth starting Ed Carpenter had shoved his way to fourth by lap 15, and 27th starting E.J. Viso was hot on Helio Castroneves tail, screaming into 12th place by lap 30!
Battles raged throughout the field until Lap 37 when Carpenter, running strongly in the top five, suddenly made moderate contact with the wall in turn 3, after sparks were seen from beneath his car. Ed was able to exit the car without assistance.
After the first round of pit stops during Carpenter’s yellow, the green flag flew on lap 49, with Tony Kanaan the new leader, trailed by Dixon, Briscoe, Dan Wheldon, Patrick, Vitor Meira and an inspired A.J. Foyt III, just ahead of a charging Castroneves. On lap 58, Helio made a big move in turn one, blowing past Danica and Wheldon in on swoop to assume P-4! Eight laps later, Castroneves got by his championship rival Scott Dixon and found himself in third.
On lap 75, the yellow was back out for hard luck Vitor Meira, who found the wall in turn one while running a solid 8th. Hopefully, Meira’s Indy Car career didn’t end against the fence, and the tough little chauffeur will find a job for next season.
Meira’s misfortune triggered another round of pit stops and, suddenly, Helio Castroneves completed his charge from the rear to assume the lead in a mear 77 laps!
When the green flag reappeared, Helio became immersed in a battle with Dan Wheldon for the lead, with Brisco, Kanaan and the impressive Viso in tow. This was the running order at the half way mark, with Graham Rahal, Foyt III, the hard-charging Mario Moraes, Dixon and Patrick completing the top 10.
Wheldon and Castroneves continued their wheel-to-wheel battle until lap 109, when the yellow flew for debris. Following pit stops, Helio continued to lead, trailed now by Briscoe, Wheldon, Kanaan, Viso, Foyt III, Patrick, Dixon, Moraes and Justin Wilson.
On lap 117, Sarah Fisher made heavy contact with the SAFER barrier exiting turn 4 and slid into the infield grass just past the pit entrance. Fisher was helped from her car by the Delphi Safety Team, and appeared to be favoring her left leg as she limped away. The green flag as out again on lap 124.
Briscoe, Castroneves and Kanaan were engaged in a serious dual for the top spot at this point, with Wheldon and Foyt III slightly behind. The racing was extremely intense, with near-misses in almost every turn.
Unfortunately, the solid performance of E.J. Viso came to an end when a tire deflated and threw his top 10-running car into the turn 4 fence on lap 137. Viso unhappily walked away after running the race of his life.
As expected, all lead lap cars dove for the pits during Viso’s yellow, except one. In what can only be described as a “PR” move, Milka Duno remained on the track and assumed the first lead of her IRL career! And, just to prove it was no “fluke”, Milka actually held the lead for one green flag lap before being swallowed by the field.
By lap 170, Castroneves and Wheldon were once again wheel-to-wheel for the top spot, trailed by Briscoe, Dixon, Kanaan, Moraes and Ryan Hunter-Reay. The scary side by side war continued until lap 181, when Mario Moraes’s big day went wrong, getting high in turn three and brushing the wall. Mario was able to continue to his pit, where he called it a day.
Following the final pit stops, Scott Dixon was in command, trailed by Castroneves, Briscoe, Wheldon and Kanaan. When the green flag flew on lap 189, Graham Rahal duplicated Moraes’s miscue, brushing the wall and rolling around to his pit, as the final yellow flag was displayed. The leaders remained on the speedway, steeling themselves for the final charge to the checkered flag.
The green flew with six laps to go, and the mad dash was on. Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon showed the world what the 2008 Indy Racing League season was all about as they slugged it out to the end, with Helio winning the battle, and Dixon winning the war: 2008 IRL Champ.
It’s been a while since the IRL put on a show like this, featuring almost constant, heart-stopping, wheel-to-wheel action from beginning to end. This was, truly, one for the ages.
PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 JOLIET, Ill. – Results Sunday of the PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 IndyCar Series event Sept. 7 at the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any): 1. (28) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running 2. (2) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running 3. (1) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running 4. (4) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running 5. (10) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running 6. (6) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running 7. (23) Darren Manning, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running 8. (5) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running 9. (16) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running 10. (3) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running 11. (21) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running 12. (19) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running 13. (15) A.J. Foyt IV, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running 14. (20) Milka Duno, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running 15. (24) Franck Perera, Dallara-Honda, 198, Pits 16. (9) Marty Roth, Dallara-Honda, 197, Running 17. (12) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 196, Running 18. (17) Jaime Camara, Dallara-Honda, 187, Running 19. (14) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 186, Contact 20. (25) Bruno Junqueira, Dallara-Honda, 184, Running 21. (27) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 181, Contact 22. (11) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 177, Pits 23. (26) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Honda, 136, Running 24. (18) Sarah Fisher, Dallara-Honda, 116, Contact 25. (22) Buddy Rice, Dallara-Honda, 110, Contact 26. (7) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, 87, Mechanical 27. (8) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 74, Contact
28. (13) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 36, Contact
Race Statistics Winner’s average speed: 150.648 mph Time of race: 2:01:04.5907 Margin of victory: 0.0033 of a second Cautions: 7 caution flags for 53 laps
Lead changes: 22 lead changes among 6 drivers
Lap leaders: Briscoe 1-39, Kanaan 40-77, Castroneves 78-93,
Briscoe 94, Castroneves 95, Wheldon 96-98, Castroneves 99-100,
Wheldon 101-102, Castroneves 103-105, Wheldon 106, Castroneves
107-130, Briscoe 131, Kanaan 132-140, Duno 141-145,
Castroneves 146-165, Wheldon 166, Castroneves 167-171, Wheldon
172-175, Castroneves 176, Wheldon 177-178, Castroneves 179-
185, Dixon 186-199, Castroneves 200.
Point standings: Dixon 646, Castroneves 629, Kanaan 513,
Wheldon 492, Briscoe 447, Patrick 379, Andretti 363, Hunter-
Reay 360, Servia 358, Mutoh 346.
IndyCar SeriesJohn AtlasThe Dirt Guy