Briscoe took the lead early, lost it mid-race with a pit error, and fought back to win by the fourth-smallest margin of victory in IndyCar history, crossing the line just eight thousandths of a seconds ahead of Scott Dixon.
The race was a non-stop battle, with three-wide racing all around the track, and with eighteen lead changes. Helio Castroneves, Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, and Ryan Briscoe all taking sizeable turns in the lead, with Tony Kanaan and Tomas Schecter taking shorter stints up front.
A few laps later the leaders hit traffic. The mid-pack battling was so fierce, the leaders couldn’t squeeze through. Helio Castroneves then made an amazing run around the high side, passing everybody three wide and taking the lead.
On lap 92 Hideki Mutoh hit the wall, bringing out the first full-course caution. Briscoe came into his pit box too fast, and overshot the mark; his fueler had to strain to get the hose to reach, and Briscoe dropped eight places.
When the race went green on lap 101, Helio and Scott Dixon lapped side-by-side, fighting for the lead, while Briscoe imitated Helio’s early high-line rampage, fighting his way back up to the leaders.
On lap 107 Marco Andretti brushed the wall, bringing out another yellow, although his car wasn’t damaged. Half the field pitted, but a few cars, including Tony Kanaan and Tomas Schecter, stayed out to gain track position. It did them no good because on the restart Dixon and Franchitti hooked up and ran like a freight train, opening a gap over the rest of the field.
Mario Moraes, who scored his career-best finish, caught up to the streaking Ganassi machines, but couldn’t pass. With fifty laps to go, Briscoe recaught the leaders and the four circulated in a tight group at speeds reaching 216 mph.
After the third round of pit stops between laps 162 and 165, the order was Dixon, Brisco, Castroneves, and Franchitti. Behind them Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal, and Mario Moraes were lapping three-wide, flat out, and that’s how it stayed until lap 184, when something broke in Helio Castroneves’ right front suspension, slamming him in to the wall and bringing out another full-course caution. Helio was unhurt, but his night was over.
The race restarted with nine laps to go. Scott Dixon held the lead, with Ryan Briscoe right beside him inching ahead and falling back. Dario Franchitti was behind Dixon, and couldn’t get past because of Briscoe, while Marco Andretti held fourth. Then Graham Rahal surged past Franchitti and into third, running three wide with Briscoe and Dixon, all three vying for the lead.
Rahal didn’t have the speed to pass, and fell back. Then Mario Moraes ran up alongside Franchitti, helping Briscoe’s aerodynamics.
At this point Dixon had seven applications of his Overtake Assist left; he was using them on every lap, as soon as the system refreshed. Franchitti had eight, but couldn’t use them because he was trapped behind Dixon. Ryan Briscoe had a single application left, and he used it just as he started the final lap. Briscoe had just enough momentum to beat Dixon to the line by twenty-four inches; Dixon was closing at the finish but just couldn’t quite make it in time.
Dixon lost the 2008 Chicagoland race in similar fashion, losing to Helio Castroneves by only 33/10,000 of a second.
“I’ve seen this movie several times before, unfortunately. In Chicago, I just keep finishing second, Dixon said after the race. “We drove a great race; the guys on the team did a fantastic job, pit stops were flawless. We just didn’t have the speed. We clearly need to play catch-up to Penske; they are clearly a lot faster than us. But I’ve got to thank the Target guys, they did a fantastic job tonight.”
The series is still up for grabs. Helio Castroneves is too far back to win, but either Dixon, Franchitti or Ryan Briscoe could win the championship. With a possible 53 points available at each race (for winning, winning the pole, and leading the most laps) and Franchitti and Dixon only 25 and 33 points behind, respectively, the championship could come down to the final race, as it did last year.
The IRL IndyCar racing series travels to the Far East for its next race the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300 at the 1.5 mile banked oval at Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Tochigi, Japan, on September 19. For ticket and travel information please visit the Mobilityland Web site.
Championship Points | ||||||||
| Driver | Points | Gap |
|
| Driver | Points | Gap |
1 | 550 pts |
|
| 6 | 342 pts | -208 | ||
2 | 525 pts | -25 |
| 7 | 335 pts | -215 | ||
3 | 517 pts | -33 |
| 8 | 331 pts | -219 | ||
4 | 383 pts | -167 |
| 9 | 318 pts | -232 | ||
5 | 353 pts | -197 |
| 10 | 316 pts | -234 |
IndyCar Series PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 | ||||||
Chicagoland Speedway Saturday, August 29, 2009 | ||||||
| # | Driver | Car Name | Laps | Status | Pts |
1 | 6 | Ryan Briscoe | Team Penske | 200 | Running | 53 |
2 | 9 | Scott Dixon | Target Chip Ganassi Racing | 200 | Running | 40 |
3 | 5 | Mario Moraes | Azul Tequila/Votorantim/KVRT | 200 | Running | 35 |
4 | 10 | Dario Franchitti | Lifelock | 200 | Running | 32 |
5 | 02 | Graham Rahal | McDonald’s Racing Team | 200 | Running | 30 |
6 | 20 | Ed Carpenter | Menards/Vision Racing | 200 | Running | 28 |
7 | 06 | Oriol Servia | Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing | 200 | Running | 26 |
8 | 43 | Tomas Scheckter | Mona Vie/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | 200 | Running | 24 |
9 | 2 | Raphael Matos | US Air Force Luczo Dragon Racing | 200 | Running | 22 |
10 | 18 | Justin Wilson | Z-Line Designs | 200 | Running | 20 |
11 | 26 | Marco Andretti | Meijer | 200 | Running | 19 |
12 | 7 | Danica Patrick | Boost Mobile/Motorola | 200 | Running | 18 |
13 | 11 | Tony Kanaan | Team 7-Eleven/Oscar Meyer Big Bite | 200 | Running | 17 |
14 | 67 | Sarah Fisher | Dollar General/Sarah Fisher Racing | 199 | Running | 16 |
15 | 14 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing | 199 | Running | 15 |
16 | 24 | Mike Conway | Dad’s Root Beer/Dreyer & Reinbold | 199 | Running | 14 |
17 | 13 | E.J. Viso | PDVSA HVM Racing | 198 | Running | 13 |
18 | 33 | Robert Doornbos | HVM Racing | 197 | Running | 12 |
19 | 98 | Jaques Lazier | CURB/Agajanian/Team 3G | 195 | Running | 12 |
20 | 3 | Helio Castroneves | Team Penske | 184 | Contact | 12 |
21 | 23 | Milka Duno | CITGO/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | 155 | Mechanical | 12 |
22 | 4 | Dan Wheldon | National Guard Panther Racing | 95 | Mechanical | 12 |
23 | 27 | Hideki Mutoh | Formula Dream | 90 | Contact | 12 |