In the agonizing clutches of traffic, everyone waits.
This is an inexorable truth whether the logjam is on an interstate at rush hour or on a mile-long, rubber-blistered racing oval. Until a sliver of space appears, you wait. Everyone waits.
Of course, when a small gap in the muck presents itself, everyone seizes the sweet relief. And if Scott Dixon could have extricated himself from the pack and into clean air any sooner during the A.J. Foyt 225 on Sunday at the Milwaukee Mile, he would have.
As it happened, Dixon’s best shot was a nerve-jangling but tantalizing chance on Lap 201, when he dared go three-wide to slip past leader Ryan Briscoe, who was working lapped traffic himself. Dixon zipped by and cruised to the win, earning his second IndyCar Series victory of the year and jumping to the overall points lead.
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“Luckily for me, my car was fantastic on the high line of [Turns] 1 and 2,” Dixon said. “You get good timing sometimes. Sometimes it bites you in the [rear]. It’s a hard track. You have to have a good car in traffic. That’s how the race was won.” Chicago Tribune
Dixon made the three-wide move heading for the third turn look almost as easy as the way he drove away from Briscoe in the final 25 laps. The margin of victory at the checkered flag of the A.J. Foyt 225 was a comfortable 2.12 seconds.
“It worked fantastic for me,” said Dixon, who had led only two other laps to that point. “My pick was the low line, and I could tell Briscoe was not real good on the high line.
“Once I got to the inside I could see it was going to be very difficult for him to push it.”
Briscoe, who started on the pole, settled for trying to hold off Dario Franchitti for second place, which he did despite traffic.
Dixon’s victory put him on the verge of tying Sam Hornish Jr.‘s record for victories in the series. Hornish has 19, Dixon 18. Dixon, the reigning series champion, also has the points lead for the first time this season.
Franchitti finished third with Graham Rahal fourth and Danica Patrick fifth. Patrick now has top-five finishes in each of the past four races, including a third at Indy.
She’s fourth in the standings.
“Probably because we’re enjoying ourselves,” she said. “We’re running well and having fun.” Indianapolis Star
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Helio Castroneves, riding a high after winning last Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, crashed in qualifying on Saturday, had to start last in the 20-car field and never was able to get into contention. He wound up in 11th and fell from second to sixth in the season points.
“Unfortunately, we were never able to find a good direction,” Castroneves said. “Ryan seemed to be very comfortable at this track, and it’s a shame that he didn’t finish first, because certainly he had a winning car here.” The Associated Press
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