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Franchitti Holds Off Andretti For Victory In Inaugural Iowa Race

NEWTON, Iowa ? The replica fillin’ station pump certainly will be a conversation-starter in Dario Franchitti’s trophy room, joining the hand-painted guitar from Nashville Superspeedway and ? of course ? the “Baby Borg” he’ll receive for winning the 91st Indianapolis 500.

Franchitti added to his collection by holding off Andretti Green Racing teammate Marco Andretti by 0.0681 of a second (17th-closest in IndyCar Series history) to win the inaugural Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by ethanol at Iowa Speedway.

Franchitti, who has placed in the top 10 in all eight races and the top five in seven, increased his lead in the standings to 51 over another teammate, Tony Kanaan, as the IndyCar Series season approaches its halfway point. Scott Sharp finished third, Buddy Rice was fourth and Darren Manning fifth ? all season highs.

“I said to Dario, this is just what he needed for points,” said Andretti, who advanced 10 positions and was running at the finish for the first time this season on an oval. “He said, this is just what I needed, too. He’s completely right. I just needed to finish. I’m happy to be second, of course. But no confidence lost here, for sure. It was a long day, though, very physical.”

The overflow crowd was treated to the high-speed excitement on the 0.894-mile oval extensively promoted by the speedway and state media. The off-shoot was multiple crashes involving multiple cars. Seven of the 19 starters were retired because of contact with each other or the SAFER Barrier, including five of the top 10 in the standings entering the race (Danica Patrick, Sam Hornish Jr., Jeff Simmons, Tomas Scheckter and Kanaan).

“You can see how many risks people took on restarts because it was one of the few opportunities you’re going to get to overtake, and you can see what happens with that extra risk,” said Manning, who gave A.J. Foyt Racing its best finish in a year.

The short track that presented itself as a speedway puts a premium on passing so track position was imperative ? as Andretti discovered in attempting to overtake Franchitti over the final 18-lap battle between mentor and pupil. He was never more than a tenth of a second behind, but couldn’t get a run.

“At the end it came down to the two of us, and I just had nothing for Dario,” Andretti said. “I was driving his setup. The guy is unbelievable at setting up a car. I’ve got to thank him for that. When you’re driving the same car, it’s hard to go a longer distance and I had nothing for him so I just wanted to protect him and great day for Andretti Green.”

Franchitti’s day didn’t start well because of his stray dog ( “We found her this morning having a good time”), but his second trip to Victory Circle made ammends.

“It was one restart after another, one yellow after another, and then at one point I was four-wide going across the start/finish straight there and I guess the three people on the inside didn’t take any further part,” he said. “So I was pretty lucky. From then on, I saw that most of the contenders that were pushing me in the championship had had their problems. So we knew we couldn’t do anything stupid and we played a conservative game.

“We managed to run with Vitor (Meira), and then we passed him in the pits and then the last pit stop we didn’t take tires. We left the Firestones on because they were really performing so well; a great call by the crew, as well. We didn’t need that last yellow (for debris on Lap 227) but the car was fantastic all day.

“All in all, a great day for the Canadian Club car and the team, Andretti Green as a whole with a 1, 2. It was a fun race but pretty physical.”

Vision Racing’s Ed Carpenter was in the running for a top-five finish before the car ran out of fuel four laps to the finish. He wound up sixth, with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Sarah Fisher seventh. Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves, who started on the front row, spun and stalled the No. 3 car on the pit lane exit on Lap 72. He got back into the flow ? albeit a few laps down ? and finished eighth.

Meira, who led twice for a total of 71 laps, also was looking at a top-five finish. But a damaged left-front suspension late in the fray ended those thoughts. He finished ninth.

Pole sitter Scott Dixon ? and Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dan Wheldon — also had a difficult day. Wheldon spun in Turn 2 on the first green flag lap, collecting Vision Racing’s No. 2 car driven by Tomas Scheckter. The team was able to get Wheldon back in the race, and he finished 11th (105 laps down).

Dixon spent a long time in his pit stall early in the race because of a steering issue.

“The steering just seized up and I couldn’t turn anywhere past half way so I had to bring the Commit Target car in to the pits or I would have ended up in the wall,” said Dixon, who finished 10th.

More than a few other cars did.

IndyCar Series Iowa Corn Indy 250 NEWTON, Iowa – Results Sunday of the
Iowa Corn Indy 250 IndyCar Series event June 24 at the 0.875-mile Iowa
Speedway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses,
driver, chassis-engine, laps completed, reason out (if any) and money
earned:

1. (3) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 250, Running $115,800

2. (12) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 250, Running $94,850

3. (4) Scott Sharp, Dallara-Honda, 250, Running $78,750

4. (17) Buddy Rice, Dallara-Honda, 250, Running $67,000

5. (15) Darren Manning, Dallara-Honda, 250, Running $57,300

6. (5) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 247, Running $50,200

7. (18) Sarah Fisher, Dallara-Honda, 247, Running $48,700

8. (2) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 246, Running $47,400

9. (13) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 216, Mechanical $57,400

10. (1) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 173, Running $55,900

11. (9) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 145, Running $44,400

12. (10) A.J. Foyt IV, Dallara-Honda, 99, Contact $43,100

13. (11) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 99, Contact $41,800

14. (8) Sam Hornish Jr., Dallara-Honda, 99, Contact $40,200

15. (16) Kosuke Matsuura, Dallara-Honda, 99, Contact $38,900

16. (7) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 85, Contact $37,500

17. (6) Jeff Simmons, Dallara-Honda, 85, Contact $36,100

18. (19) Milka Duno, Dallara-Honda, 60, Handling $36,100

19. (14) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, 0, Contact $34,600

Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 123.896 mph
Time of race: 1:48:14.1344
Margin of victory: 0.0681 of a second
Cautions: 6 caution flags for 67 laps
Lead changes: 13 among 8 drivers
Lap leaders: Castroneves 1-2, Dixon 3-12, Castroneves 13-69,

Franchitti 70, Sharp 71, Meira 72, Andretti 73-75, Patrick 76, Meira
77-146, Rice 147-151, Franchitti 152-214, Andretti 215, Sharp 216-218,
Franchitti 219-250.

Point standings: Franchitti 306, Kanaan 255, Dixon 254, Wheldon
252, Hornish 242, Castroneves 226, Sharp 199, Patrick 185, Meira 185,
Scheckter 171.

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