Ed Carpenter became a first-time race winner in the IZOD IndyCar Series by taking Sunday’s Kentucky Indy 300, while Dario Franchitti’s second-place finish allowed him to take over the points lead with only one race to go.
Carpenter and Franchitti ran side-by side for the lead during the final 20 laps. Carpenter nipped Franchitti to the finish line by just 0.0098 seconds, making it the sixth closest margin in series history.
His first IndyCar win came in his 114th start. He had finished second in this race the past two years. Toronto Sun
“I’ve always known that I’ve belonged, but until you win one, there are always going to be people who think different,” shrugged Carpenter, who gave Sarah Fisher Racing its first victory.
Carpenter, meanwhile, was patient over the final 22 laps, knowing he had enough to beat Franchitti. His lone hiccup was a broken visor on his helmet that caused him to drive one-handed for a stint until he could fix it during a caution.
“Dario raced me hard and clean,” Carpenter said. “I knew we had a better car than him the second or third stint. My visor was falling off — I drove 15 or 20 laps one-handed holding it onto my helmet waiting for a pit stop. I wasn’t going to let a visor get in my way. Just so proud to be a part of this team.”
Carpenter met a tearful Fisher in Victory Lane. The new mother was celebrating with the daughter she gave birth to three weeks ago, and joked the newborn was such good luck she can never miss another race again.
“The boys have just done a tremendous job,” Fisher said. “The big ovals were 100 percent of our focus this year. I still can’t believe it, it’s just unreal.”
Asked which is better, winning as a driver or a car owner, Fisher said it’s equal.
“Is it just as special? It absolutely is,” she said. “I can not be more happy of the group we’ve assembled.” USA Today
Franchitti, who entered today’s race second in the series standings and 11 points behind Team Penske Racing driver Will Power, clicked off his best Kentucky Speedway IICS finish in his seventh career start at the track after leading a race-best 143 laps after starting 11th.
He registered his 13th top-five and 15th top-10 finish of the season and advances to the Oct. 16 IICS season finale with the championship lead and an 18-point advantage on Power, who started from the pole position and led the opening 48 laps this afternoon before placing 19th after the side pod of his No. 12 Verizon Dallara/Honda/Firestone was damaged when his car made contact with the No. 24 Team Ipiranga Dallara/Honda/Firestone of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Ana Beatriz during a Lap 50 green flag pit stop.
“We had a tough day yesterday, really were slow in qualifying and we did what we do, do our best. We made some good places on the first stint, had a good in lap, good pit stop, really good pit stop, really good out lap and we came up from fifth or sixth to the lead.
“From then on, I just tried to stay low and keep going. The guys told me to use an overtake every lap and I miscounted by one and Ed got me. He drove a great race,” Franchitti said.
Power ended a stellar three-race stretch in which he earned victories in Sonoma, Calif., and Baltimore, Md., along with a second-place Motegi, Japan finish with his third-worst finish of the season this afternoon.
“We had the quickest car, we had an unbelievably fast car. After that (pit road contact) happened, it tore a hole in the side and I lost four mile an hour. It was just even a fight to hang in the back of the field. The car still ran really well. I just had no speed, it had so much drag it was just impossible.
“Our car was really fast, you saw in the beginning. I wasn’t expecting those guys (Franchitti) to finish in the top three. I wasn’t expecting us to have a day like we did and lose so many points and so much potential. It’s racing and we’ll just go to Las Vegas,” Power said.
Dixon took third in the No. 9 Target Dallara/Honda/Firestone, James Hinchcliffe finished fourth in the No. 06 Sprott Dallara/Honda/Firestone with Newman/Haas Racing and Ryan Hunter-Reay completed the race top-five in the Andretti Autosport No. 27 Team DHL Dallara/Honda/Firestone. Auto Racing Daily
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IZOD IndyCar Series: Kentucky Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway - Race Results
Interview With Kentucky Indy 300 Race-Winner Ed Carpenter And Sarah Fisher
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