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Dixon wins under the lights at Richmond

From the LA Times:

Scott Dixon wins at Richmond International Raceway
His 19th career IndyCar Series victory ties Sam Hornish Jr.’s record.

Scott Dixon grabbed the lead from teammate Dario Franchitti on pit road just before the midpoint and earned his 19th career IndyCar Series victory on Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway in Virginia, tying Sam Hornish Jr.’s series record.

Dixon and Franchitti, teammates with Target Chip Ganassi Racing, started on the front row and stayed there all night, benefiting from a one-groove race track that made passing difficult, and from their own patience as most everyone else made green-flag pit stops. -Read the rest of the article

Not exactly a surprising victory by Dixon other than the fact that he was able to hold off a very quick Dario Franchitti. But the inability to pass in Indy Car this year has become an epidemic of uneventful racing.

Indy Car has to do *something* to tweak these race cars, so that racing returns to the series. The road and street courses are usually characterized as “parades”, but this year the ovals seem to be parade-ish as well.

Indy Car Qualifying Notes: Dario obliterates the field

Dario Franchitti posted four huge laps at Richmond on Friday evening to take the pole position for the 300 lap SunTrust Indy Challenge. Franchitti is coming off a win at Iowa, and seems to have the hot foot right now in the series, especially on the small ovals.

Dixon-the new bridesmaid: Scott Dixon was *the man* last year in Indy Car. Dario’s performance has been stiff competition, and somewhat overshadowed the champ.

Helio’s wild ride:   Helio Castroneves had a couple of laps on his four-lap qualifying run that were a little too exciting.  He must have been watching the Silver Crown drivers earlier in the day, because he had some quick hands and dirt tracked his Dallara through turn four near the end of his run.

Jaques Lazier:  Poor Jaques.  He’s driving the abysmal car that Stanton Barrett vacated, and was about 14 mph off the pace with a four lap average of 153 mph.   Indy44 summed up Lazier’s qualifying effort on his twitter feed:

Did Lazier accidentally get in a Lights car? Seems like it!

The two top teams dominate the top four spots:  Indy Car continues to be a fight between Franchitti, Castroneves, Dixon, and Briscoe.   Diversity lacking.

Can Graham Rahal keep it off the wall:  Graham is the fastest fo the non-super-team drivers, and will start in the fifth position.  The kid can qualify, but will he last beyong lap 80?  Graham needs to stay on the lead lap and out of the fence this weekend.   Ditto what I said about EJ Viso who starts seventh.

AGR brings up the rear:  Hideki Mutoh paced the AGR gang and starts eighth ahead of Danica in 10th.   Marco and Tony are deep in the field, starting 16th and 17th in a 20 car field.

VERSUS covers it all:  VERSUS has three hours of coverage tonight starting at 8 p.m. ET. Check you local listings or tune to channel 603 if you are DirecTV subscriber.

San Francisco Chronicle:  Franchitti claims pole in Richmond

Curt Cavin: Franchitti’s return to open-wheel racing hitting high gear

Pos 	 Speed 	 Driver
1	167.315	Dario Franchitti
2	166.638	Scott Dixon
3	165.931	Helio Castroneves
4	165.749	Ryan Briscoe
5	165.218	Graham Rahal
6	164.928	Raphael Matos
7	164.629	EJ Viso
8	164.575	Hideki Mutoh
9	164.441	Tomas Scheckter
10	164.197	Danica Patrick
11	164.129	Mike Conway
12	164.071	Robert Doornbos
13	163.843	Dan Wheldon
14	163.824	Ed Carpenter
15	163.506	Justin Wilson
16	162.78	Marco Andretti
17	162.634	Tony Kanaan
18	162.506	Ryan Hunter-Reay
19	160.895	Mario Moraes
20	153.176	Jaques Lazier

Franchitti catpures Iowa Corn 250 win

Dario Franchitti was able to outlast a crash festival at Iowa Speedway to win the Iowa Corn 250.  Franchitti showed that he loves the little 7/8 mile track outside of Des Moines that is a liltle like “flying fighter planes in a gymnasium.   The Indy Cars were running blistering laps at the the banked D-shaped oval, pushing speeds into the 180’s.

A number of drivers had problems between turns one and two all day, problems that seemed to be caused by bumps that have formed in the area of the tunnel that connects the infield to the outside of the track.  Tony Kanaan was the most notable victim of the bumps when he crashed out after leading the race for a number of laps.  In the post-crash interview Kanaan said that he’s had a tough year in what was the official understatement of the day.

One person in the paddock that is never understated is Ashley Judd who was thrilled to see her hubby win in Iowa.  ABC’s Brienne Pedigo interviewed the hatted movie star where she said about Dario:

“I think that he has a fundamental courtesy and respect for his other drivers.  And I remember early on when I’d get to know him and racing, there’d be some beef on the track and someone had behaved in an sportsmanlike way.  And I saw that even as a young man he was a bit of an elder statesman, and the other drivers would come to him looking for counsel, sometimes even bearing gifts.  It was really quite special to see, and certainly endeared me to him.  The guy who interviewed him at the local rock station was saying that too, he’s just a very personable and lovely man, and I absolutely mean that in the best possible way.”

Ashely also gave a shout out to Fathers in the audience, and mentioned that it was the Solstice.  Her monologue was rather “interesting”.

The Iowa race was actually pretty good this year despite all the crashing, but this race track still seems to be a little bit too small for the Indy Cars to me.  Perhaps the surface will wear a little bit and the high groove will come in a bit during future races.   If it does, look out for Tomas Scheckter.    Tomas looked wicked-fast on the high side, and was running with the leaders for a good part of the race, and finished sixth.

We’ll get to find out if the racing gets better, because the IRL announced that they would be returning to Iowa in 2010.

Danica ran a solid race, and fought an understeering race car most of the day to come home with a 9th place finish.  The big news surrounding her weekend was the possibility of a bolt to NASCAR, at least ESPN made it sound that way.  I’m sure ESPN would love to have her running some Nationwide races.

The Hawk Eye has more on Dario’s win:  Franchitti overpowers Iowa field

INDY LIGHTS - Ana Beatriz wins at Iowa
Ana Beatriz got her second Indy Lights win at Iowa on Saturday night, leading Sam Schmidt Motorsports to a 1-2-3 finish.  Beatriz stole the win away from Wade Cunningham, who lead 103 laps, with an outside move coming out of turn four with 9 laps to go.

Des Moines Register: Beatriz first woman to win at Iowa Speedway

PT returning earlier than planned, will run at the Glen

Paul Tracy’s camp announced today that he will be returning to a KV car at Watkins Glen coming up on Independence Day weekend. The crazy Canuck will be in the #15 car, and will run along side the man with the biggest sunglasses in the paddock, Mario Moraes.

Canada.com - Tracy gets call for Watkins Glen race

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Indy Car can be found on VERSUS

Check out Fanarchy tonight and every Tuesday night at 10:30 p.m. ET on VERSUS!

Here’s what’s featured on tonight’s episide:

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Power to run a Penske for five more races in 2009.

Good news for Will Power.  The super-quick Australian will be back in a Penske machine for five races later in the 2009 season.  The exact schedule for power is not yet determined.

Roger wants Power’s prowess on road & street courses to be put to use.

USA Today put out an official story today.

USA Today:  Power lined up for five more IndyCar races with Penske

Dan Wheldon fastest in Texas evening practice…..

Times from Thursday night practice in Texas.  The ladies had a good night with Danica in 2nd and Milka in 8th.

1 Dan Wheldon Panther Racing 215.783
2 Danica Patrick Andretti Green Racing 214.884
3 Ryan Briscoe Team Penske 214.652
4 Dario Franchitti Chip Ganassi 214.433
5 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 214.399
6 Helio Castroneves Team Penske 214.311
7 Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan 214.224
8 Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing 213.767
9 Milka Duno Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 213.539
10 Marco Andretti Andretti Green Racing 213.387
11 Hideki Mutoh Andretti Green Racing 213.317
12 Ed Carpenter Vision Racing 213.185
13 Robert Doornbos* Newman/Haas/Lanigan 212.958
14 AJ Foyt IV AJ Foyt Enterprises 212.592
15 Raphael Matos* Luczo Dragon Racing 212.42
16 Alex Tagliani Conquest Racing 212.274
17 Sarah Fisher Sarah Fisher Racing 212.25
18 Ryan Hunter-Reay Vision Racing 211.99
19 Mario Moraes KV Racing Technology 211.989
20 Justin Wilson Dale Coyne Racing 211.972
21 Mike Conway* Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 211.656
22 Tomas Scheckter Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 211.384
23 EJ Viso HVM Racing 211.282

Helio wins forgettable five-hundred

Helio Castroneves did what so many people expected him to do:  he won his third Indy 500 on Sunday afternoon in Speedway, Indiana.  The Penske team gave Captain Roger his 15th win at the Brickyard by giving Castroneves the best car on the track, and by performing flawlessly in the pits.

In a race where green-flag passing was scarce, pit stops were the primary way to gain track position.  This boded well for Castroneves, because his pit crew won Friday’s pit stop competition  on Carb Day.  They delivered again on Sunday.

The 2009 edition of this famous race won’t be very famous.  It was a stinker, a bore, a good opportunity to take a nap, an activity I usually save for the Coke 600 later in the day.  With crashes every 15 to 20 laps and no green flag pit stops, the race never had a chance to “unfold” like it has done so many times in the past.   The race was a series of green flag runs with no passing, and then pit stops where the field was shuffled a little bit.

The on track action was mostly boring, except when the field stacked up behind Milka Dunno.  The IRL should have parked her, because she was a hazard out on the track.   Until she learns that you shouldn’t be throwing blocks out when you are three laps down, she is a danger to everyone out on the track.

Marco Andretti made some of his own “bad Andretti luck” at the start of the race this year.    This driver of priviledge must think the the Red Sea would part for him, or that other drivers should feel the “Andretti-tremor in the force” should he try to make a ill-advised pass.   Marco tried to pass Mario Moraes on lap 1 in the short chute coming out of turn 1, and ended both of their days very early.    Marco is supposed to be seasoning into a mature racer, but his move shows casts doubt into that status.   How many times do we hear the phrase, “you can’t win on the first lap”?  Marco apparantly hasn’t heard it enough.

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Castroneves & Briscoe give Penske 1-2 start for Indy

Helio Castroneves braved the gusty conditions at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon and put his Penske Dallara on pole for “the 500″. Castroneves knocked fellow Penske driver, Ryan Briscoe, off the top of the charts with a four lap average of 224.864 mph.  Castroneves claimed his third career pole at the Brickyard.

Castoneves was ecstatic about the results, and was full of emotions in his post qualifying interviews. “After everything we have been though lately, this is just incredible”, said the two-time Indy 500 winner.  “I just have to thank my team, Roger (Penske), Tim (Cindric), my family, my girl friend and everyone who has had faith in me. This is what I know. Racing is my life. Our cars have been extremely strong since we arrived here. Today was about finding the ‘edge’. If the car feels too good, then it’s not fast enough. We were able to squeeze every bit of speed out of the car today.”

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TV ALERT: VERSUS delivers six hours of coverage of Pole Day

TV ALERT:  The VERSUS network is providing six hours of coverage from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway today with unprecedented coverage of Pole Day.  Coverage started at 12 p.m. ET and will continue until the track closes this evening.

Kenseth leads Darlington starting lineup

Matt Kenseth captured a rare pole on Friday for the Southern 500 at Darlington.  Kenseth ran a lap of 179.514, setting a new track record to capture his first pole position of the 2009 season. He will come to the green flag tonight with Jeff Gordon on the outside of row 1.

“It was a great lap for us,” said Kenseth in the post qualifying press conference. “You can only go as fast as the car will carry you and (crew chief) Drew (Blickensderfer) and (team engineer) Chip (Bolin) and all these guys on the DEWATL team did a great job of giving me a fast car today, so I’m really looking forward to tomorrow night.”

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