Two-time IndyCar champ leads 161 of 200 laps in victory
Surely, the Target Corporation can work out a deal to take Kansas Speedway off the International Speedway Corporation’s hands. Their IZOD IndyCar Series team has practically made the 1.5-mile oval their second home anyway.
Target Chip Ganassi Racing bagged their fourth straight victory in the Sunflower State this afternoon as Scott Dixon dominated the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 for the second year in a row. The two-time IZOD IndyCar Series champion took the lead from polesitter Ryan Briscoe on Lap 32 and kept it the rest of the way, defeating teammate Dario Franchitti by three seconds at the checkered flag.
Dixon’s 22nd career series win was never truly in doubt as he was able to gradually pull away from his pursuers throughout each green flag run.
Now he sits in second place in the series standings (26 points behind leader Will Power) going into the 94th Indianapolis 500 on May 30 — certainly not a bad spot to be in at all.
“Winning at Kansas going into the month of May is a big deal,” said Dixon after the race. “Team Target has had a slow start to the season, but this is what we need to jump back into the points table. It’s certainly good to get that momentum going to Indy.”
Briscoe, Dixon and Franchitti appeared to be equally matched in the early stages of the race, which saw Briscoe stave off assaults on his lead from the Ganassi duo. But once Dixon was able to get the point, nobody could catch him.
Franchitti noticed how much stronger his teammate got as every stint wore on.
“After the first pit stop, it looked like Ryan, Scott and myself were pretty equal,” Franchitti recalled. “Scott made a mistake, got loose, and I got past him. And then Scott got back past me and towards the end of the stint, managed to get past Ryan. After that, Scott and I were running 1-2 in formation. He was a little bit quicker than I was, especially toward the end of the stint. He was probably .2 or .3 mile-per-hour [better] every lap.
“My balance was very good, but he was just quicker.”
At the end of the day, Dixon turned out to be the least of Franchitti’s worries. With multiple lapped cars between him and Dixon, Franchitti was able to get by Helio Castroneves for second but then had to focus on fighting a hard-charging Tony Kanaan in the final laps to keep the spot.
Kanaan settled for third, but considering that he started a subpar 15th at the green flag, it’s likely that he’s pleased with the outcome.
“I have to thank the whole 7-Eleven crew for the great stops,” said Kanaan, whose third-place run was his best result of 2010. “It was a great race. We did what we could. We definitely didn’t have the fastest car out there so we tried to maximize the result. Qualifying really doesn’t matter at this place.”
His Andretti Autosport teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay could say the same. Two weeks after he scored an emotional win in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, the American found himself starting 22nd after a dismal run in qualifying. But he was able to work his way up to fifth at the checkers, one spot behind Castroneves.
It appears that Indianapolis could be Hunter-Reay’s swan song for 2010 if funding cannot be found for him to continue on after the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. But as the clock ticks on him and Michael Andretti’s efforts to get more money, RHR is certainly doing all he can performance-wise to try and impress prospective backers.
“We had a car that was manageable, but it was a little loose,” he said in post-race. “I almost lost it out there a couple times, but almost doesn’t count. We brought it home and this was good for the championship. Now, we just need to go get the funding to go past Indy.”
Briscoe finished in sixth, followed by Mario Moraes in seventh and Alex Tagliani in eighth. John Andretti, who’s also driving for Andretti Autosport and NASCAR legend Richard Petty at Indy, came home ninth in a tune-up to the “500,” and Vitor Meira was tenth.
Preparation for the Indianapolis 500 starts in two weeks with Opening Day activities on May 15 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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Materials from league and team press releases were used in the making of this article.
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IZOD IndyCar Series
Road Runner Turbo Indy 300
Kansas Speedway – Kansas City, Kan.
Final results
(Car number-driver, team, deficit)
1. 9-Scott Dixon, Ganassi, avg. speed of 164.741 m.p.h.
2. 10-Dario Franchitti, Ganassi, -3.0528 seconds.
3. 11-Tony Kanaan, Andretti, -3.2210 seconds.
4. 3-Helio Castroneves, Penske, -3.8300 seconds.
5. 37-Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti, -6.1133 seconds.
6. 6-Ryan Briscoe, Penske, -6.7951 seconds.
7. 32-Mario Moraes, KV Racing Tech., -1 lap down.
8. 77-Alex Tagliani, FAZZT, -1 lap down.
9. 43-John Andretti, Andretti/Petty, -1 lap down.
10. 14-Vitor Meira, Foyt, -1 lap down.
11. 7-Danica Patrick, Andretti, -2 laps down.
12. 12-Will Power, Penske, -2 laps down.
13. 26-Marco Andretti, Andretti, -2 laps down.
14. 24-Mike Conway, Dreyer and Reinbold, -2 laps down.
15. 4-Dan Wheldon, Panther, -2 laps down.
16. 2-Raphael Matos, Luczo Dragon + De Ferran, -2 laps down.
17. 67-Sarah Fisher, Fisher, -2 laps down.
18. 22-Justin Wilson, Dreyer and Reinbold, -3 laps down.
19. 19-Alex Lloyd, Coyne, -3 laps down.
20. 36-Bertrand Baguette, Conquest, -3 laps down.
21. 78-Simona de Silvestro, HVM, -3 laps down.
22. 34-Mario Romancini, Conquest, -4 laps down.
23. 06-Hideki Mutoh, Newman/Haas, -14 laps down, contact.
24. 5-Takuma Sato, KV Racing Tech., -14 laps down, contact.
25. 66-Jay Howard, Fisher, -28 laps down, contact.
26. 18-Milka Duno, Coyne, -116 laps down, mechanical.
27. 8-E.J. Viso, KV Racing Tech., -129 laps down, contact.
Race statistics
Time of race: 1 hour, 50 minutes, 43.1410 seconds; Winner’s average speed: 164.741 m.p.h.; Margin of victory: 3.0528 seconds; Cautions: Four for 33 laps; Lead changes: Three among three drivers; Lap leaders: Briscoe 1-31, Dixon 32-48, Franchitti 49-50, Dixon 51-200.
Championship standings
Will Power – 190
Scott Dixon – 164
Helio Castroneves – 162
Ryan Hunter-Reay – 159
Dario Franchitti – 152
Justin Wilson – 137
Ryan Briscoe – 132
Tony Kanaan – 129
Vitor Meira – 101
Raphael Matos/Dan Wheldon – 98
