Peak Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy 300

[DanicaFan]

Race 14 of 17

Race - Peak Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy 300

Location - Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, IL

Date - Saturday, August 28th

Time & TV Schedule - 7:00PM Eastern -Green Flag -7:50PM Eastern -Versus

Course Type - 1.5 Mile Oval

Distance - 200 Laps / 300 Miles

Practice Sessions - Friday, August 27th -10:15AM -11:15AM & 6:00PM -6:30PM Eastern

Qualifications - Friday, August 27th - 2:00PM - 3:30PM Eastern

2009 Pole Sitter - Ryan Briscoe -Lap Time - 25.4033 / Speed - 215.405 (4 lap average)

2009 Winner - Ryan Briscoe

**Note - All times listed in Eastern Time. Joliet, IL is 1 hour behind (Central Time)

[DanicaFan]

2009 Race Summary

Lap Stats: Total Laps -200 / Green Flag Laps - 177 / Caution Laps -23
Race Length : 1:42:34
Average Speed : 177.827 mph
Best Lap 218.385 mph - lap 193 - #43 Tomas Scheckter
Most Improved #2 Raphael Matos - 8 positions -started 17th, finished 9th

[DanicaFan]

Chicagoland Speedway Track Facts...

Banking - 18 degrees in corners
Frontstretch Length - 3,100 Ft.
Backstretch Length - 1,700 Ft.
Track Width - 55 Ft.
Seating Capacity - 75,000

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee236/DanicaRules/chicagoland2.gif

[bzcam]

Another boring go-fast, turn-left NASCAR track. 18 degrees of bank? Who needs it? Too bad the road course season is over. Let the bore fest begin.

[TURN3]

Another boring go-fast, turn-left NASCAR track. 18 degrees of bank? Who needs it? Too bad the road course season is over. Let the bore fest begin.

Chicagoland certainly isn't the most exciting track on the series schedule, you go that right. Kentucky and Motegi are a little racier. And we know beyond the shadow of a doubt that anybody still in the hunt for the championship will be a lap ahead of the rest of the field at Miami thanks to a little made for TV drama schinanagans.

[harvick#1]

Another boring go-fast, turn-left NASCAR track. 18 degrees of bank? Who needs it? Too bad the road course season is over. Let the bore fest begin.

what!!!!!!!! this is actually the one track that has been exciting normally, when I went there in 08, it was an absolute dogfight, this is the one track that hold many of the closest finishes in history.

I remember that year they were running 3 wide stacked about 5 deep for about 15 laps before a caution came out. I'm almost tempted to go again this year cause lord knows it will barely be half full there even though its Danica territory :mark:

[TURN3]

what!!!!!!!! this is actually the one track that has been exciting normally, when I went there in 08, it was an absolute dogfight, this is the one track that hold many of the closest finishes in history.

I remember that year they were running 3 wide stacked about 5 deep for about 15 laps before a caution came out. I'm almost tempted to go again this year cause lord knows it will barely be half full there even though its Danica territory :mark:

You're right about Chicagoland Harv...going back a few years. The aero package has changed though and of course we don't see oval racing at ANY track like the old IRL used to put on. Remember, it was after Chicagoland last year that they made the change, which helped out a great deal at Kentucky. We'll see but I think we'll see more of the recent version.

[Lousada]

You're right about Chicagoland Harv...going back a few years. The aero package has changed though and of course we don't see oval racing at ANY track like the old IRL used to put on. Remember, it was after Chicagoland last year that they made the change, which helped out a great deal at Kentucky. We'll see but I think we'll see more of the recent version.

They made the aero changes at Kentucky yes, but Kentucky was before Chicago last year. Can't remember if the race was any good though, but it probably was.

[garyshell]

They made the aero changes at Kentucky yes, but Kentucky was before Chicago last year. Can't remember if the race was any good though, but it probably was.


If you were talking about the KY race being any good last year, yes it certainly was. It was the race that Ed almost won. The crowd was on its feet for the last ten or more laps.

Gary

[TURN3]

They made the aero changes at Kentucky yes, but Kentucky was before Chicago last year. Can't remember if the race was any good though, but it probably was.


If you were talking about the KY race being any good last year, yes it certainly was. It was the race that Ed almost won. The crowd was on its feet for the last ten or more laps.

Gary

I think he was talking about the Chicago race. I must have been thinking about Nashville or something, I haven't looked back at the schedule. I just remember some snoozers that warranted immediate aero change. Kentucky was great last year but I have no recollection of last years Chicago race.

[anthonyvop]

what!!!!!!!! this is actually the one track that has been exciting normally, when I went there in 08, it was an absolute dogfight, this is the one track that hold many of the closest finishes in history.

I remember that year they were running 3 wide stacked about 5 deep for about 15 laps before a caution came out. I'm almost tempted to go again this year cause lord knows it will barely be half full there even though its Danica territory :mark:

Some of us don't find contrived, flat-out all the way around, oval racing that exciting.

[Lousada]

Some of us don't find contrived, flat-out all the way around, oval racing that exciting.

That what Indycar considers road'racing' is a lot more contrived than what they call oval racing.

[harvick#1]

Some of us don't find contrived, flat-out all the way around, oval racing that exciting.

neither do I, but the track is still better than what Homestead Miami produced last year for the made for tv drama

[harvick#1]

yeah, as I said only 2 years ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21dwzbyv19g

[DanicaFan]

Ana Beatriz will be in the #24 Dad's Root Beer car for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for this race. Glad to see her back.

[DanicaFan]

IndyCar will adjust thier qualification procedure for this race as well as the 3 other remaining oval events following (Kentucky, Twin Ring Motegi, Homestead).

They will now take the speed of 2 consecutive timed laps. They will have 2 warm-up laps and then the 2 timed laps. They used to take the speed of 4 timed laps.

The reason for the change is the increased number of cars entered in the events. This new 2 lap strategy will shorten practice by like 33%.

[ezhop7]

With 29 cars ...well 25 ...KV racing will have 3 crash out within the first 35 laps and Milka will be parked by then. Making bold prediction either a Penske or Target car will win the pole, but Marco Andretti will reach victory lane. Hopefully this race will be better than Mid-Ohio, Edmonton and Sonoma...plain boring to watch on TV. My two cents so far this season the best races have been Brazil, Texas, Iowa and Toronto....the permanent road course races really have not been that competitive.

[NaBUru38]

6 laps to go, 11 drivers in 1s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1OqAFsUFcw). I understand if some of you don't like this kind of excitement, but I do. But I'm fine with just three cookie-cutters in a year.

[ChicagocrewIRL]

Some of us don't find contrived, flat-out all the way around, oval racing that exciting.

and Mr Sunshine chimes in !!! GAWD I hate this forum. This is my first time back in months and nothing has changed.

[garyshell]

and Mr Sunshine chimes in !!! GAWD I hate this forum. This is my first time back in months and nothing has changed.


Don't judge it just by what the "reporter" has to say.

Gary

[Otto-Matic]

Ana Beatriz will be in the #24 Dad's Root Beer car for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for this race. Glad to see her back.

Thats excellent news, i'm hoping Ana will stay in the car for the rest of the year, sans if Conway can actually return. Or if JR Hilldebrand can get back into a couple of races. Tomas Scheckter has had his chances and has not impressed. I'd rather see the young guns get a few extra races and hopefully use that to build for a full time 2011 campaign.

[DanicaFan]

Here is the entry list for this race..

Car# & Driver / Car Name / Team

#2 Raphael Matos / HP DeFerran Dragon / DeFerran Dragon Racing
#3 Helio Castroneves / Team Penske / Team Penske
#4 Dan Wheldon / National Guard-Panther Racing / Panther Racing
#5 Takuma Sato / Lotus-KV Racing Technology / KV Racing Technology
#6 Ryan Briscoe / Team Penske / Team Penske
#7 Danica Patrick / Team GoDaddy.com / Andretti Autosport
#8 EJ Viso / PDVSA-KV Racing Technology / KV Racing Technology
#9 Scott Dixon / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Target Chip Ganassi Racing
#10 Dario Franchitti / Breath Right / Target Chip Ganassi Racing
#11 Tony Kanaan / Team 7-Eleven-Planters / Andretti Autosport
#12 Will Power / Verizon Team Penske / Verizon Team Penske
#14 Vitor Meira / ABC Supply Co.-AJ Foyt Racing / AJ Foyt Enterprises
#18 Milka Duno / CITGO / Dale Coyne Racing
#19 Alex Lloyd / Boy Scouts of America / Dale Coyne Racing
#20 Ed Carpenter / Panther-Vision-Fuzzy's Vodka / Panther Racing
#21 Davey Hamilton / HP DeFerran Dragon Racing / DeFerran Dragon Racing
#22 Justin Wilson / Team Z-Line Designs-DRR / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
#24 Ana Beatriz / Dad's Root Beer-DRR / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
#26 Marco Andretti / Team Venom Energy / Andretti Autosport
#32 Mario Moraes / KV Racing Technology / KV Racing Technology
#34 Bertrand Baguette / RACB-Conquest Racing / Conquest Racing
#36 TBA / Conquest Racing / Conquest Racing
#37 Ryan Hunter-Reay / Ethanol USA-Team IZOD / Andretti Autosport
#66 Jay Howard / Service Central-Sarah Fisher Racing / Sarah Fisher Racing
#67 Sarah Fisher / Dollar General-Sarah Fisher Racing / Sarah Fisher Racing
#77 Alex Tagliani / FAZZT Race Team / FAZZT Race Team
#78 Simona De Silvestro / Team Stargate Worlds-HVM / HVM Racing
#02 Graham Rahal / NHR-QuickTrim / Newman Haas Racing
#06 Hideki Mutoh / Formula Dream-Panasonic / Newman Haas Racing

[DanicaFan]

Here are the pit assignments..

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee236/DanicaRules/chicagopits.jpg

[Otto-Matic]

It'll be interesting to see who is driving the TBA Conquest entry. If it's Dracone, I would hope HVM would be making a case to the Indycar managment about his lack of oval experience. Didnt TGBB and Co., give Swiss Miss a hard time about her "lack of oval experience" in the pre-season?

[DanicaFan]

3 drivers will have different paint schemes this weekend..

#10 Dario Franchitti -Breathe Right -Black/Orange/Silver
#11 Tony Kanaan -Planters - Blue/White/Yellow
#37 Ryan Hunter-Reay - Ethanol USA - Green/Black/White

[DanicaFan]

I heard Tomas Scheckter will be driving the #36 Conquest Racing car.

[Scotty G.]

I think Tracy is going to drive the #24 at Kentucky and Motegi.

Scheckter might as well drive for Conquest. Its about the only team left that he hasn't driven for.

[TURN3]

I think Tracy is going to drive the #24 at Kentucky

This could be right but I'm holding out hope for KV still. KV has much better oval cars that DRR these days. With KV I think he has a shot at a top 5, but not with DRR.

[beachgirl]

I think Tracy is going to drive the #24 at Kentucky and Motegi.

Scheckter might as well drive for Conquest. Its about the only team left that he hasn't driven for.

Scheckter is driving for Conquest this weekend.

[beachgirl]

Here are the pit assignments..

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee236/DanicaRules/chicagopits.jpg

The pit assignments make me laugh! KV's all grouped together, with a big pit wall opening space in front, and one behind. Nobody has to worry about getting totally creamed by one of them in a pit stop - at least there might be a little space to maneuver! :) Now, if they could only figure out how to keep from spending DallaraDollars during the race...

[DanicaFan]

Here are the results of Practice Session 1..

1. #6 Ryan Briscoe -217.874
2. #9 Scott Dixon - 216.584
3. #12 Will Power - 216.528
4. #26 Marco Andretti - 216.455
5. #7 Danica Patrick - 216.445
6. #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay - 216.368
7. #11 Tony Kanaan - 216.220
8. #3 Helio Castroneves - 216.213
9. #8 EJ Viso - 216.199
10. #10 Dario Franchitti - 216.194
11. #02 Graham Rahal - 215.883
12. #4 Dan Wheldon - 215.630
13. #19 Alex Lloyd - 215.524
14. #14 Vitor Meira - 215.150
15. #34 Bertrand Baguette - 214.881
16. #06 Hideki Mutoh - 214.679
17. #36 Tomas Scheckter - 214.629
18. #22 Justin Wilson - 214.574
19. #5 Takuma Sato - 214.574
20. #32 Mario Moraes - 214.524
21. #2 Raphael Matos - 214.329
22. #24 Ana Beatriz - 214.317
23. #78 Simona De Silvestro - 214.145
24. #77 Alex Tagliani - 214.107
25. #66 Jay Howard - 213.872
26. #67 Sarah Fisher - 213.697
27. #21 Davey Hamilton - 213.498
28. #18 Milka Duno - 211.872
29. #20 Ed Carpenter - 186.141

[DanicaFan]

Here is the qualifying order...

1. #77 Alex Tagliani
2. #3 Helio Castroneves
3. #66 Jay Howard
4. #10 Dario Franchitti
5. #78 Simona De Silvestro
6. #11 Tony Kanaan
7. #22 Justin Wilson
8. #06 Hideki Mutoh
9. #32 Mario Moraes
10. #2 Raphael Matos
11. #02 Graham Rahal
12. #36 Tomas Scheckter
13. #20 Ed Carpenter
14. #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay
15. #19 Alex Lloyd
16. #18 Milka Duno
17. #34 Bertrand Baguette
18. #6 Ryan Briscoe
19. #21 Davey Hamilton
20. #26 Marco Andretti
21. #12 Will Power
22. #24 Ana Beatriz
23. #14 Vitor Meira
24. #8 EJ Viso
25. #67 Sarah Fisher
26. #5 Takuma Sato
27. #9 Scott Dixon
28. #7 Danica Patrick
29. #4 Dan Wheldon

[DanicaFan]

Congratulations to Ryan Briscoe for getting the pole.

[DanicaFan]

Here is your starting grid..

Row 1

#6 Ryan Briscoe - 216.346
#10 Dario Franchitti - 215.593

Row 2

#12 Will Power - 215.521
#3 Helio Castroneves - 215.475

Row 3

#26 Marco Andretti - 215.321
#02 Graham Rahal - 215.314

Row 4

#4 Dan Wheldon - 215.099
#06 Hideki Mutoh - 215.055

Row 5

#37 Ryan Hunter-Reay - 214.979
#5 Takuma Sato - 214.945

Row 6

#20 Ed Carpenter - 214.831
#7 Danica Patrick - 214.750

Row 7

#11 Tony Kanaan - 214.632
#19 Alex Lloyd - 214.468

Row 8

#9 Scott Dixon - 214.269
#8 EJ Viso - 214.210

Row 9

#36 Tomas Scheckter - 214.093
#2 Raphael Matos - 213.975

Row 10

#77 Alex Tagliani - 213.910
#34 Bertrand Baguette - 213.682

Row 11

#32 Mario Moraes - 213.458
#24 Ana Beatriz - 213.429

Row 12

#22 Justin Wilson - 213.385
#14 Vitor Meira - 213.106

Row 13

#67 Sarah Fisher - 213.095
#18 Milka Duno - 212.777

Row 14

#78 Simona De Silvestro - 212.660
#21 Davey Hamilton - 212.484

Row 15

#66 Jay Howard - 212.097

[FormerFF]

Having 29 cars is impressive.

[harvick#1]

wow, am I seeing this right, Milka is not the slowest on time :mark: oh wait, we are at an oval.

It will be fun seeing Dixon carve his way up through the field

[glauistean]

Here is your starting grid..

Row 1

#6 Ryan Briscoe - 216.346
#10 Dario Franchitti - 215.593

Row 2

#12 Will Power - 215.521
#3 Helio Castroneves - 215.475

Row 3

#26 Marco Andretti - 215.321
#02 Graham Rahal - 215.314

Row 4

#4 Dan Wheldon - 215.099
#06 Hideki Mutoh - 215.055

Row 5

#37 Ryan Hunter-Reay - 214.979
#5 Takuma Sato - 214.945

Row 6

#20 Ed Carpenter - 214.831
#7 Danica Patrick - 214.750

Row 7

#11 Tony Kanaan - 214.632
#19 Alex Lloyd - 214.468

Row 8

#9 Scott Dixon - 214.269
#8 EJ Viso - 214.210

Row 9

#36 Tomas Scheckter - 214.093
#2 Raphael Matos - 213.975

Row 10

#77 Alex Tagliani - 213.910
#34 Bertrand Baguette - 213.682

Row 11

#32 Mario Moraes - 213.458
#24 Ana Beatriz - 213.429

Row 12

#22 Justin Wilson - 213.385
#14 Vitor Meira - 213.106

Row 13

#67 Sarah Fisher - 213.095
#18 Milka Duno - 212.777

Row 14

#78 Simona De Silvestro - 212.660
#21 Davey Hamilton - 212.484

Row 15

#66 Jay Howard - 212.097

Danica Fan, your love affair with Mrs Whatever her name AKA Danica Patrick seems to have you all mixed up. Your three posts are not correct. You have the starting grid matched to a practice session and a qualifying matched with a starting grid and ..........

[glauistean]

wow, am I seeing this right, Milka is not the slowest on time :mark: oh wait, we are at an oval.

It will be fun seeing Dixon carve his way up through the field

That's true as it is for many of the drivers. Look at it in another perspective. Will Power is not on pole.

[DanicaFan]

Danica Fan, your love affair with Mrs Whatever her name AKA Danica Patrick seems to have you all mixed up. Your three posts are not correct. You have the starting grid matched to a practice session and a qualifying matched with a starting grid and ..........

You lost me there bud. What I posted is the starting grid... :confused: :confused:

[Hoop-98]

Not sure i understand that Glaustean comment either, Will gets loose cks up, and Scheckter and Matos get the wall

http://i34.tinypic.com/2yv4ebd.jpg

rh

[Hoop-98]

Some pretty amazing stuff...

[coogmaster]

C'mon Marco or Wheldon!! Knock off the Elites!

[Nikki Katz]

Was that a Sato accident that wasn't his fault???

Ah, at least it was an accident involving a teammate though :)

[Hoop-98]

More KV magnetism...

[TURN3]

Was that a Sato accident that wasn't his fault???

Ah, at least it was an accident involving a teammate though :)

Yesh no kidding...at least the KV cars are taking each other out instead of race cars. What a frickin' joke.

Who was the dipstick before the season that was all high on his Asian heritage and thankful Sato was the series savior again?

[coogmaster]

I'm loving this. Awesome racing. I can't believe IndyCar is leaving this place. Damn shame to say the least.

[beachgirl]

The pit assignments make me laugh! KV's all grouped together, with a big pit wall opening space in front, and one behind. Nobody has to worry about getting totally creamed by one of them in a pit stop - at least there might be a little space to maneuver! :) Now, if they could only figure out how to keep from spending DallaraDollars during the race...

I cannot believe I called this!! They DID take each other out in the pits! ROFLMAO!

[Hoop-98]

wow!

http://i36.tinypic.com/2lm9a3s.jpg

[garyshell]

What happened to Simona?

Gary

[Hoop-98]

What happened to Simona?

Gary

i know she replaced a nose earlier...

[garyshell]

Who was the idiot who let Power out without enough fuel? Nice call to send Dario out without a tire change!

Gary

[SarahFan]

Wow..... Huge!

[Hoop-98]

Amazing race! Simona was "mechanical". Quote Tony K on his radio, "This is Effin crazy"

http://i38.tinypic.com/o5vl2v.jpg

[garyshell]

Danica dropped like a rock after the last pit stop.

Gary

[FormerFF]

Who was the idiot who let Power out without enough fuel? Nice call to send Dario out without a tire change!

Gary


They had a problem with the fueling rig, and weren't sure if they had enough fuel. If it were my call, I'd have brought him back in under the yellow and made sure they had enough. He'd have been back in 16th and could have probably gotten back up into 8th or so.

Oh well, it's obvious he's plenty quick on these type of ovals so he should be in a good situation for the championship.

[FormerFF]

That was a very entertaining race. It's too bad more people weren't in the stands to see it.

[garyshell]

They had a problem with the fueling rig, and weren't sure if they had enough fuel. If it were my call, I'd have brought him back in under the yellow and made sure they had enough. He'd have been back in 16th and could have probably gotten back up into 8th or so.

Oh well, it's obvious he's plenty quick on these type of ovals so he should be in a good situation for the championship.


I heard that right after I posted. Will looked GREAT tonight. His interview on his way to the trailer was gracious, class act!

Gary

[NickFalzone]

Only saw bits and pieces of the race tonight, but wow looked like some good stuff. Definitely feel bad for Will, but good for the competition to see Dario get so much closer in the points.

[call_me_andrew]

Good race tonight. Only thing to improve is the seat:butt ratio.

[DanicaFan]

Good race. Unfortunately the call for Danica not to take tires backfired. Her tires fell off fast causing her to lose a lot of places.. :(

[NickFalzone]

Good race tonight. Only thing to improve is the seat:butt ratio.

yeah reminds me of Kentucky '09. Great racing all night, but not many in the stands, and no one watching on TV. Kinda depressing.

[NickFalzone]

Good race. Unfortunately the call for Danica not to take tires backfired. Her tires fell off fast causing her to lose a lot of places.. :(

um where would she have finished had she taken tires? Maybe 1 or 2 spots better? Certainly not anywhere near where her teammates finished.

[DanicaFan]

um where would she have finished had she taken tires? Maybe 1 or 2 spots better? Certainly not anywhere near where her teammates finished.

Negative. She had a fast car all weekend. She was in 6th place, and she could of very well been in the top 5 or 6.

[NickFalzone]

Negative. She had a fast car all weekend. She was in 6th place, and she could of very well been in the top 5 or 6.

She was in 6th because she did not take tires. Prior to the stop she was not even in the top-10, I think 12th or 13th.

[DanicaFan]

Here are the final results..

1. #10 Dario Franchitti
2. #4 Dan Wheldon
3. #26 Marco Andretti
4. #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay
5. #11 Tony Kanaan
6. #3 Helio Castroneves
7. #22 Justin Wilson
8. #9 Scott Dixon
9. #14 Vitor Meira
10. #02 Graham Rahal
11. #6 Ryan Briscoe
12. #34 Bertrand Baguette
13. #06 Hideki Mutoh
14. #7 Danica Patrick
15. #67 Sarah Fisher
16. #12 Will Power
17. #32 Mario Moraes
18. #21 Davey Hamilton
19. #18 Milka Duno
20. #20 Ed Carpenter
21. #19 Alex Lloyd
22. #66 Jay Howard
23. #78 Simona De Silvestro
24. #24 Ana Beatriz
25. #77 Alex Tagliani
26. #5 Takuma Sato
27. #8 EJ Viso
28. #36 Tomas Scheckter
29. #2 Raphael Matos

[garyshell]

You guys just can never give Danica any credit.

And Chad all you ever do is give her credit for things she doesn't deserve credit for. She did NOTHING tonight that was in any way note worthy. She came in on her last pit stop and took no tires and then dropped thru the field like a rock. Someone else did exactly the same thing and won the race. And yet you want to heap praise on her or make some excuse about the tires going off? Sorry, it wears just a bit thin.

Gary

[Scotty G.]

Danica deserves no credit and no mention for this race (which she got none of on the telecast). She was nowhere. Probably one of her worst performances ever on a oval, considering where her teammates ran all night.

That happens sometimes. She ran a great race at Texas. She was a nobody tonight. No need to say anything more about it.


Who actually deserves mention?

-Marco was really good from Lap 1 to Lap 200. No fall-offs or mistakes. He even smiled after the race.

-Carpenter was super aggressive, racing "for the win". Too bad his team in the pits let him down. He will be a factor again next weekend and at Homestead. He has a really strong car.

-Wheldon could have won that race, if he and Marco had stopped racing each other and focused more on getting up to Dario earlier. Dan waited too long. He got pretty close on the last lap. He and Marco should have done that about 3 laps earlier. Dan and Marco should know better by now.

-How in the hell did Meira finish 9th? And what was he thinking plowing into Tagliani on that restart?

-KV? Ahh, no need to even talk about them anymore. They were a joke 3 months ago and its like beating a dead horse now. I just hope one of them doesn't kill somebody before the years is out. All three belong in Star Mazda or Formula Nippon (if that even still exists).

-Major airtime tonight for Sarah Fisher and Dollar General. Nice to see one of the few REAL sponsors in the series, get some time on air. And she surpisingly ran very competitively when she was at the front for those 20 laps or so. You can run wheel-to-wheel with Sarah. You can't with some others, that sneak up to the front every-now-and-then.

-The starts and restarts? A disgrace. This is professional racing, right?

-Kentucky should be another good one next weekend. Expect Tracy in the #24 car. No Rahal next weekend, remember. I think we are looking at 26 cars for KY (we lose Howard, Rahal and Hamilton from tonight).

And one other thought, from the pre-race show...

Nicole Manske Briscoe is hot as hell, but I betcha she is a chore to live with. I am thinking Ryan doesn't mind that they are away from one another so much. ;)

[Lousada]

The race was breathtaking. Got a good chuckle when KV racing took itself out. They isolate the the team in the pits, and still they find cars to ram into.

Too bad I was about the only person that saw the race, judging from the crowds. Incredible how the IRL fails to attract fans to something that's obviously superior to Nascar. Even worse, they won't come back next year!

[SarahFan]

How about Sarah leading some laps.....sure she got there on (non)pit strategy....

but she kept it there....and ran with the big boys for awhile....If I had the dough!

and performance of the night goes to Ed...with a very VERY close runner up to Marco

[djparky]

yeah reminds me of Kentucky '09. Great racing all night, but not many in the stands, and no one watching on TV. Kinda depressing.

I've not seen too many Indy Car races this year, but did watch the re-run on Sky- good stuff. Reminded me of some of the Handford-wing era races from late 90's CART. The last oval race I saw was the bore-fest at Miami last October when Frachitti won the title

also nice to see a good sized grid- shame that the lack of bums on seats was painfully obvious.

[Otto-Matic]

A side note: I hope Dallara sends a nice Christmas card (and maybe bonuses) to the KV Racing drivers. How one team has managed to collect the majority of the biggest clowns in the series onto one team is pretty amazing.[/quote]

I cant take KV Racing seriously at all. We give Dale Coyne a hard time about his lack of "seriousness" in becoming a "real" team (especially after his breaktrough 2009) and reverting back to field filler, but in my opinion KV Racing is a total joke. All three pay drivers and between two of those budgets you couldn't hire one legatitamate driver to pilot the third car ??? At least Milka brings the car home in one piece most days. Sato, Moreas, and ESPECIALLY Viso should have their licences' pulled for their idiotic ability at putting other drivers in harms way. You dont get the nickname 'The Hitman" (Viso) for your racecraft.

[TURN3]

Multiple posts moved to the 'All Danica All the Time' thread.


You forgot #52, #60, #63, & #64....I'm pretty sure those are the post numbers.

[grungex]

So now Danica can't be discussed in a race thread?

[SarahFan]

So now Danica can't be discussed in a race thread?



Well it's not like she's is out there racing

[grungex]

Oh, smack! :)

[ezhop7]

Great Race from what I saw on TV....question to the group why didn't more teams just take fuel on the last stop?

[banshee74]

The criticism of Princess is not because she is a female, just a very poor RACER. She backed out of EVERY situation when someone got either inside or outside of her on Saturday. I really got a kick out of Jenkins when there was a shot of the back of the field, and out of about 15 cars, he picks Danica to comment on, and he said...."There's Danica moving from the middle to the outside"......WOW, what racing skill.

Let's forget covering Princess and focus on real racers, like Sarah and Simone. These ladies get out there, are aggressive and really race, and without the same equipment or support.

As for DF....take the blinders off....she only got to 6th by not taking tires. She moved steadily back and finished (I think) last car on the lead lap. Dario did the same (no tires) and won.....please explain the difference?????

The good news...she didn't spin coming into or out of the pits, hit nothing (or anyone) while in the pits, and finished on the lead lap. Quite a performance for someone who needs replacing next year.

[bzcam]

Not to detract from all of the Danica bashing but...my hat's off to Marco, Ed Carpenter and to some extent Sarah for making this a race that almost wasn't won by one of the big two. Ed was top 5 all night and Marco drove an absolute brilliant race. I love how he stakes out the high side of the track and stays there. Too bad Ed doesn't have a full ride, he can win at this level. Sara got her sponsor some TV time and proved how talented she is - even in low grade equipment.

Gotta say this was much more exciting than I expected. The KV clowns made it interesting and the pit stops made the race. Wish they were all like this.

BZ

[bblocker68]

Good race. Unfortunately the call for Danica not to take tires backfired. Her tires fell off fast causing her to lose a lot of places.. :(

Wow, I actually just laughed out loud, again!