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Castroneves Thrills Large Alabama Crowd

Leeds, Ala. – Helio Castroneves moved to the top of the leader board with eight laps to go in the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama and went on to win the inaugural IZOD IndyCar Series race at the impressive Barber Motorsports Park.

Warm weather and sunshine greeted an estimated crowd of 55,000 fans, which flocked to the picturesque track to watch the IndyCar Series in action. The fans enjoyed the action while relaxing on the hillsides surrounding the picturesque 17-turn track.

The victory by Castroneves broke the winning skein of teammate Will Power, and his victory came at the expense of Marco Andretti, who led 58 of the 90 laps and looked to have the race win locked up. While the top three drivers completed the race with two pits stops, Andretti needed an extra stop, which dropped him to fifth.

For Castroneves, he scored his 17th IZOD IndyCar Series victory and 23rd Indy car win overall. He’s now won at least one race in each of last 10 seasons. And for the accomplished Team Penske, it now has 147 career victories with 58 of them coming on road and street courses.

The winner led 20 laps, including the final eight rounds. He averaged 106.436 miles per hour and his margin of victory was .57 seconds.

Thrilled with the outcome, Castroneves stopped his car on the track to climb a fence to the delight of the fans. Added to his excitement was being greeted in victory lane by his baby daughter Mikaella and fianc

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