Aleshin was fastest in the 90-minute morning practice session, then followed it up during qualifying in the afternoon to claim the pole for the ABC Supply 500.
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Hunter-Reay and Aleshin took turns in the lead for the first two-thirds of the race, with Hunter-Reay content to ride second as both drivers methodically had a flawless race on the track and in the pits. He had been running in third place.
Andretti Autosport’s Hunter-Reay started from the rear of the field in a backup vehicle after his huge shunt in practice, but carved his way through the pack to take the lead on Lap 90.
However, he quickly drove his way to the front.
Aleshin notes the progress of late, starting with four consecutive top-10 starts (five in the past six events).
He took the lead for the first time on lap 49 and led a total of 31 laps during the middle stages of the race.
“Yeah, that’s good”, Power said of the points situation. So far, we’ve been surprised in a good way because I think we can do some different things that are very, very good, and it’s going to be more economical than we thought to was going to be.
On lap 158, the caution flag came out when Simon Pagenaud crashed in turn 1.
The other exciting drive was by Ryan Hunter-Reay, who started in the rear in an unfamiliar backup auto after crashing his primary in practice.
Hunter-Reay took the lead on the restart, and after zooming through the first turn began to slow with electrical problems and fell a lap down.
“I had to come through the field twice”, said an ultimately disappointed Hunter-Reay.
“I caught him, but it was just impossible to overtake. I was like, Are you kidding me?”
Hunter-Reay climbed through the field after starting last to lead 31 laps of the 200-lap race. Hunter-Reay appeared to be in control until his vehicle shut off while leading on lap 162 of the 200-lap event and tried feverishly to get it restarted to find himself a lap down. “It’s very frustrating. I’m trying to be upbeat about it, but that’s the kind of season we’ve had”. Here are some drivers we like to contend for the win. Hunter-Reay was third.
Rossi was released from his pit stall as Charlie Kimball was coming in, the two collided and Rossi’s vehicle was launched into the air and onto the Chevy of Helio Castroneves, with the front tire narrowly avoiding the helmet of the three-time 500 champion. He suffered a mechanical failure at Iowa. Next week’s Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway is a makeup from a race in mid-June that also was postponed by rain – after the drivers had completed only 71 of the scheduled 248 laps.
“It was nice to have a pat on the back”.
But that didn’t stop him as he persevered and utilised the fourth and final caution for debris to his advantage, regaining the lap he had lost to the rest of the field by pitting out of sync and then scything through the field like a hot knife through butter.
“We had a vehicle to compete for the win”.
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“We’ve gone all out all season and that’s not going to change”, said Pagenaud. But it was a huge, huge opportunity missed. “It happened, and it was probably going to be a pretty good race for me”. The Indianapolis 500 victor climbed into the top five early in the race and remained there until a first series of green-flag pit stops but was eliminated in the pit road incident.
