Indianapolis Motor Speedway was packed with fans on Sunday.
Advertisement
(AP Photo/R Brent Smith). The Colombian appeared devastated after the race.
The five rookies raised the total to 763 drivers who have started the Indianapolis 500.
“It’s a pretty miraculous comeback”, said Marco Andretti, his friend, fellow driver and member of one of the royal families of racing. It just didn’t fall our way. “Whatever she picks, it’s going to be a very lucky guy”, Kanaan said Friday after landing atop the leaderboard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “It may be the first time you ever see me cry”. The strategy worked, though he ran out of gas just after crossing the finish line.
The early stops gave the lead to Josef Newgarden, the first time he’d been in front at the Indy 500. Yet with the strength of Andretti’s numbers – his team included five of the 33 cars in the field Sunday – these inexperienced collaborators clicked. (I doubt it.) Perhaps it’s a tribute to the painful process of developing differentiated chassis associated with Honda and Chevy – which a year ago raced very well, too. The 25-year-old driver from Bradford, England, is honored to be part of the field for the milestone race. “I don’t know how my teammate (Rossi) did it without stopping”.
This centennial running has turned a special event into a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Marco Andretti finished 13th and Rahal, son of 1986 victor Bobby Rahal, was 14th. Maybe. It was the chance they had to take because it was the only way they could win-something between a Hail Mary pass and a suicide squeeze bunt. Michael Andretti returned from retirement in 2006 to race against his son, an Indy 500 rookie, and the curse struck again. Sam Hornish Jr. won by a little more than a vehicle length, and Marco and Michael settled for second and third.
“I think about it still every day”, Marco said. We’ve been healthy as a family with all the tries, over 70-something tries, we’re blessed to be healthy. We had the auto to win.
This is the one he really wants for his family. Kept his composure the whole race. “Just to put your mark on the 100th would be huge”. “It was patience. Bryan told me the way to win was to focus on the fuel”. The 100th installment of America’s most storied motor race was a tale of algebra and ingenuity. “If we could win it, obviously it would be a great platform to do even more of that”, Rahal said.
“Took hard work to get it up to the top. I don’t know what he did”. This is going to be a big one. We didn’t get that. Ryan Hunter-Reay and Townsend Bell were pulling out of their pit stalls at the same time when Bell bumped into Helio Castroneves, who was in the outside lane, then pinballed into Hunter-Reay.
Hinchcliffe, the polesitter who missed this race previous year after a near-fatal accident in a practice session, faded to seventh despite being one of the best cars in the field.
He watched the 500 from his hospital bed and remembers very little of last May because he was heavily medicated while hospitalized. There were moments I was really stoked, really heartbroken, really stoked.
The defending champion is out of the Indianapolis 500. Herta was the winning auto owner in 2011 with Dan Wheldon. He rolled awhile, finally coming to a halt roughly halfway around the track, requiring a tow to return to Victory Lane.
Who’s in trouble: Points leader Simon Pagenaud is mired in 22nd place. The secret to his success Sunday was in being able to follow a counterintuitive game plan that was devised on the fly and demanded restraint in a race typically won by running flat-out.
It’s been a trend as Chevrolet teams have dominated the series, while Honda is still looking for its first win of the year. “It’s an awesome result”. But many have wondered if the Chevy teams are simply waiting to show their hand on Sunday. Scott Dixon 9. Sebastian Bordáis 10.
Advertisement
“I don’t think I have a pity card to play”. “I’m going to win”, he said.
