Helio Castroneves, the reigning Indianapolis 500 champion, never looked back after taking the lead following the final pit stop to capture Saturday night’s Bombardier Learjet 550 at Texas Motor Speedway. The No. 3 Team Penske driver crossed the finish line 0.3904 seconds ahead of teammate Ryan Briscoe.
The victory was Castroneves’ second of the season and 16th of his IndyCar career. The win gave Castroneves his third career triumph at Texas Motor Speedway and Team Penske its fifth victory in the last eight races at Texas. MiamiHerald.com
He moved into third place for wins in the series, trailing only Sam Hornish Jr. (19) and Scott Dixon (18).
Castroneves tied Hornish for most IndyCar wins at Texas.
“It feels fantastic,” he said. “The No. 3 team gave me that (in the pits). Jump in the front, and that’s it.”
The Brazilian climbed the fence, as is his custom.
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“Toward the end of the race I was saying, ‘Drive like you stole it,’ ” he said.
Briscoe was “very frustrated,” even though he became the points leader (by three over Dixon). He knew he should have won the race, but it was lost because Castroneves’ car had more owner points and therefore got to select the pit box closest to the exit. Indianapolis Star
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Briscoe, who took the lead from Dario Franchitti early in the race, turned in the fastest lap all night and was seemingly better in traffic than out by himself.
But he couldn’t run down his teammate for the win.
“It’s really hard to pass,” Briscoe said, “it was just really frustrating to know I was probably going to finish second to Helio after dominating the race. The points [lead] is nice, but the wins are what we race for.” Dallas Morning News
Marco Andretti was fourth and polesitter Dario Franchitti, the Ganassi teammate of Dixon, finished fifth. Danica Patrick was sixth, ending her streak of consecutive top-five finishes at four. The Associated Press
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