Sarah Fisher Racing competitor Ed Carpenter nailed down his first IZOD IndyCar Series (IICS) victory in today’s “Kentucky Indy 300” by sneaking his No. 67 Dollar General Dallara/Honda/Firestone past the No. 10 Downy Dallara/Honda/Firestone of Chip Ganassi Racing’s Dario Franchitti by 0.0098 of a second in the closest series finish in Kentucky Speedway history.
The victory was fitting for Carpenter, who placed second in Kentucky by 0.0162 of a second to Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe on Aug. 1, 2009 and runner-up to Penske driver Helio Castroneves by 13.1597 seconds in the track’s Sept. 4, 2010 event. He’s earned each of his three career top-two IICS finishes in the commonwealth.
Carpenter closed out his victorious campaign by rocketing past second-place running Chip Ganassi Racing driver Scott Dixon on the third and final restart of the race on Lap 178, taking his first race lead from Franchitti on Lap 188 and entertaining a sundrenched crowd by exchanging the lead with the three-time defending IICS champion three times in the closing 11 laps.
“It feels way better than I thought it was going to feel. Dario raced me hard and clean. I knew we had a better car than him the second or third stint of the race.
“We had really good restart gears and good restarts all day. Dixon was struggling around the bottom, so I believed if I’d be able to stay underneath him, I’d get a good start (on the last restart). The window opened up and he didn’t get a great run. I think he was just hoping to be able to follow under Dario and it didn’t happen so he just tucked right in.
“I started racing Dario because we were faster. I had to check one time to make sure we had enough fuel for the end. I think with nine laps to go is when I knew I’d beat him. I set it up, used a push to pass. The team got it to where I’d have one more push to pass than him and I was able to use in the last five laps. They did a great job and it worked,” said Carpenter, who posted his previous season best 11th-place finishes at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Iowa Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway this season.
Results Sunday of the Kentucky Indy 300 IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 1.48 mile Kentucky Speedway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (4) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
2. (11) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
3. (7) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
4. (3) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
5. (8) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
6. (9) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
7. (15) Wade Cunningham, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
8. (18) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
9. (17) Buddy Rice, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
10. (14) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
11. (26) Townsend Bell, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
12. (2) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
13. (10) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
14. (28) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
15. (22) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
16. (21) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
17. (19) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
18. (12) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
19. (1) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
20. (5) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running
21. (27) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 198, Running
22. (29) Pippa Mann, Dallara-Honda, 197, Running
23. (23) EJ Viso, Dallara-Honda, 192, Running
24. (20) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 165, Contact
25. (13) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 141, Mechanical
26. (24) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 140, Contact
27. (6) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 140, Contact
28. (25) Dillon Battistini, Dallara-Honda, 124, Driver Fatigue
29. (16) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 34, Mechanical
Race Statistics
Winners average speed: 174.039
Time of Race: 01:42:02.7825
Margin of victory: .0098 of a second
Cautions: 3 for 32 laps
Lead changes: 7 among 4 drivers
Lap Leaders: Power 1 - 48, Hildebrand 49, Franchitti 50 - 187, Carpenter 188, Franchitti 189-190, Carpenter 191-192, Franchitti 193-195, Carpenter 196-200.
Point Standings: Franchitti 573, Power 555, Dixon 518, Servia 425, Kanaan 366, Briscoe 364, Hunter-Reay 347, Andretti 337, Rahal 320, Patrick 314.
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