Hornish Beats Castroneves For Win
Written by Josh Katinger · February 29, 2004
Sam Hornish Jr. became the only first-time Penske driver to win in his first race for the team. Hornish Jr. passed Marlboro Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves between Turns 1-2 on Lap 199 to win the IRL IndyCar Series season-opening Toyota Indy 300 on Sunday.
It was classic Team Penske with both team cars dominating late in the race. It was classic IRL racing with close, high-speed dicing. It was classic Sam Hornish Jr., working hard and staying in the hunt all race long, and just squeaking out the win on the final lap.
However the race wasn’t without disappointment as race favorites Alex Barron and Scott Dixon saw their days end early. Scott Dixon blew his race spinning hard into the pit wall on his way in for servicing while Barron was “helped” into the wall by Dan Wheldon. Dario Franchitti had a similar run in with Kosuke Matsuura putting him in the wall.
All in all it was a great debut race to the 2004 IRL season. Hopefully this is what we have to look forward to for the rest of the season…
IndyRacing.com: Hornish’s Last-Lap Move Propels Him To Victory In Opener
Motorsport.com: Hornish Jr nips teammate for opening win
RPM.ESPN: Hornish wins Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead
Pos Driver Chassis-Engine Laps Gap Status
1. Sam Hornish Jr. Dallara-Toyota 200
2. Helio Castroneves Dallara-Toyota 200 0.0698
3. Dan Wheldon Dallara-Honda 200 1.6450
4. Tora Takagi Dallara-Toyota 200 1.7422
5. Tomas Scheckter Dallara-Chevrolet 200 2.0249
6. Darren Manning G Force-Toyota 200 4.6682
7. Buddy Rice G Force-Honda 200 5.5667
8. Tony Kanaan Dallara-Honda 200 5.7508
9. Scott Sharp Dallara-Toyota 200 6.7885
10. Robbie Buhl Dallara-Chevrolet 200 7.6726
11. Kosuke Matsuura G Force-Honda 200 11.5929
12. Ed Carpenter Dallara-Chevrolet 200 21.4829
13. Bryan Herta Dallara-Honda 199 1 lap
14. Greg Ray G Force-Honda 199 11.1118
15. A.J. Foyt IV Dallara-Toyota 190 10 laps
16. Alex Barron Dallara-Chevrolet 126 74 laps Accident
17. Dario Franchitti Dallara-Honda 104 96 laps Accident
18. Scott Dixon G Force-Toyota 87 113 laps Accident
19. Mark Taylor Dallara-Chevrolet 39 161 laps Accident
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