Castroneves sneaks Kentucky win

September 5th, 2010

Helio Castroneves snatched victory at Kentucky Speedway with a canny fuel strategy, staying out as the rest of the leaders had to make last minute pitstops.

An additional stop during a mid-race yellow had put the Penske driver out of sequence with the rest of the pack. That extra few laps’ worth of fuel paid dividends when the rest of the lead group had to pit in the final eight laps, while Castroneves was able to stretch his fuel mileage a few more laps to clinch an unlikely victory.

Until the late splash and go stops, Dan Wheldon had looked set to take his first victory since 2008 and his Panther team’s first since 2005. He still took third, while polesitter Ed Carpenter claimed a brilliant second in the Panther/Vision Racing joint entry.

Championship leader Will Power (Penske) led for much of the race, but lost ground late on and only finished eighth, with his title rival Dario Franchitti (Ganassi) closing the points gap further by taking fifth – leaving them just 17 points apart with two rounds to go.

Wheldon had quickly moved to the front when the race got underway, passing Power at an early restart then overtaking Carpenter on lap 11.

The Panther duo ran one-two through the first stint, but when the first pitstops took place under green, it was Power who jumped to the front ahead of Scott Dixon (Ganassi) and Wheldon, while a slow stop for Carpenter saw him slip to 10th.

Wheldon swiftly reclaimed second from Dixon and closed on Power, spending several laps side by side with the championship leader without being able to nose ahead.

The next pitstops happened just 30 laps later – earlier than ideal for the leaders, but prompted by a yellow after Vitor Meira, who had been running an excellent seventh for AJ Foyt, tangled with the lapped Simona de Silvestro, whose spinning HVM car tagged Ryan Briscoe and sent the Penske Dallara into the wall too. It was during the long caution for this incident that Castroneves came in for the extra stop that ultimately set him up for victory, allowing him to run longer than his rivals on each stint thereafter.

Power and Wheldon continued to battle it out through the following stint, before Wheldon finally got clear in the lead at the third round of stops, with Franchitti becoming his main challenger as Power lost ground and rejoined in fifth.

Wheldon led with Franchitti, Andretti Autosport’s Tony Kanaan, Carpenter and Marco Andretti on his tail – but all knew that they would need a splash and dash fuel stop in order to make the finish.

Kanaan – who had quickly made up for his awful qualifying result by charging through the field – was the first of the leaders to come in on lap 192. Wheldon lasted a further three laps and Carpenter another four before having to pit, which allowed Castroneves to hit the front.

The Brazilian had kept a low profile all night, running in the upper midfield for a while then dropping right to the back when he made his extra stop. He gradually crept forward thereafter and as everyone else pitted, he emerged victorious by 13 seconds over Carpenter, who jumped Wheldon, Kanaan and Franchitti in the late stops.

A strong night for Andretti Autosport saw Andretti and Danica Patrick come through to sixth and ninth, split by Dixon and Power, the latter losing further ground when a late mistake cost him momentum. Ryan Hunter-Reay had been on course for a top 10 finish in the fourth Andretti car, despite starting last and spinning on lap one, until a late mechanical problem.

Qualifying star Bertrand Baguette (Conquest) charged to third in the opening laps, later fell back, but still came away with a career-best 10th, ahead of Dreyer & Reinbold duo Justin Wilson and Paul Tracy. Newman/Haas’ Hideki Mutoh could not maintain his strong qualifying form though, tumbling down the order and finishing 17th.

KV Racing had another disastrous night. Takuma Sato spun into the wall on the opening lap, EJ Viso was an early retirement with a brake issue, and Mario Moraes slumped from an early top 10 spot to finish 18th.

Pos  Driver               Team                Time/Gap

 1.  Helio Castroneves    Penske

 2.  Ed Carpenter         Panther/Vision      + 13.1597s

 3.  Dan Wheldon          Panther             + 13.9214s

 4.  Tony Kanaan          Andretti            + 13.9931s

 5.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi             + 14.1968s

 6.  Marco Andretti       Andretti            + 14.5669s

 7.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi             + 15.1025s

 8.  Will Power           Penske              + 15.6142s

 9.  Danica Patrick       Andretti            + 15.8494s

10.  Bertrand Baguette    Conquest               + 1 lap

11.  Justin Wilson        Dreyer & Reinbold      + 1 lap

12.  Paul Tracy           Dreyer & Reinbold      + 1 lap

13.  Alex Lloyd           Dale Coyne             + 1 lap

14.  Tomas Scheckter      Conquest               + 1 lap

15.  Alex Tagliani        FAZZT                  + 1 lap

16.  Raphael Matos        De Ferran Dragon       + 1 lap

17.  Hideki Mutoh         Newman/Haas            + 1 lap

18.  Mario Moraes         KV                    + 2 laps

19.  Milka Duno           Dale Coyne            + 5 laps

20.  Graham Rahal         Sarah Fisher          + 5 laps

Retirements:
     Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti           174 laps

     Sarah Fisher         Sarah Fisher       134 laps

     Vitor Meira          Foyt               79 laps

     Ryan Briscoe         Penske             79 laps

     Simona de Silvestro  HVM                78 laps

     EJ Viso              KV                 45 laps

     Takuma Sato          KV                 0 laps