IndyCar: 2010 Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 [SPOILERS]

2010 Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 from Chicagoland Speedway – Click above for high-res image gallery

It might seem that the 2010 IndyCar championship is a foregone conclusion. After all, Team Penske’s Will Power has a sizable lead in the standings and there are just four races left to run. Ah, but those four are all on ovals, and Will has never claimed the top step of the podium at an oval track. Plus, right behind Power in the race for the overall IZOD IndyCar Championship are Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon – two drivers who have considerably better luck than Power when everybody only has to turn left.

In fact, Dixon leads Franchitti in the new-for-2010 A.J. Foyt Oval Champion standings. Furthermore, Dixon basically owns this week’s venue – Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois – despite never actually winning there. That might seem like a contradiction, but Scott has been the bridesmaid on five separate occasions at Chicagoland.

IndyCar’s return to the ovals also means bigger fields, with 29 drivers lined up to run for the checkers on Saturday night. Among those 29 were a record five female drivers – Ana Beatriz, Milka Duno, Sarah Fisher, Danica Patrick and Simona de Silvestro. Would Dixon finally take the win in Chicago? Would Dario claim victory and close the gap on Power? Would one of the ladies break through and be the first across the stripe? Follow the jump to see how the 2010 Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 from Chicagoland Speedway played out.

[Images: Jonathan Ferrey, Streeter Lecka/Getty Images | Skip Stewart, Nam Y. Huh, Warren Wimmer/AP]

Of the ten races run by the IRL in Chicago, seven have seen the top two (or three in some cases) finishers cross the line less than two-tenths of a second apart. In fact, Chicagoland holds claim to five of the top ten closest finishes in IndyCar history. Ovals can always produce exciting racing like that, and even the qualifying can be exhilarating. A new two-lap qualifying average went into effect with this round, so a real shootout for the pole ensued. When the dust settled, the spread from first to last place was less than a second a lap.

Ryan Briscoe ended up on top, followed by Dario Franchitti in second. The surprise in qualifying centered around the third position. It wasn’t Scott Dixon (who would start from 15th) – it was Will Power. Would he finally break his oval jinx? To be fair, Power has always shown good qualifying speed on ovals; he’s just had a lot of bad luck in the actual races. Behind Power was teammate Helio Castroneves. Qualifying isn’t nearly as important on ovals as it is on road or street courses, however, and Dixon was confident that he’d be in contention on race day.

At the start, 29 cars were ran nose-to-tail and side-by-side-by-side at 210+ miles per hour. We sometimes lose sight of what makes ovals so popular with fans, but this race was a vivid reminder. The circle tracks create a lot of passing opportunities and fans can see nearly every second of racing from whatever seat they’re in. It makes for a great show.

Cars ran three abreast and occasionally even four wide, so it wasn’t surprising when a few came together on lap 4, bringing out the race’s first yellow. Tomas Scheckter and Rafael Matos got the worst of it, but Alex Lloyd and Vitor Meira also had damage that forced them to pit for repairs. Replays showed that it was actually Will Power who indirectly caused the accident when he got sideways coming out of the turn. As drivers checked up behind him, a few weren’t able to avoid each other.

At the restart on Lap 16, Marco Andretti got a good run and started challenging Briscoe for the lead. A lap or two later he was past him and into first. A few spots back in sixth was Tony Kanaan, who had advanced quite a bit from his 13th place starting position. It was super-tight racing as the top ten looked like a swarm of bees – running two and three wide with less than a second separating first from tenth.

The yellow flag came out again on Lap 78 as Ana Beatriz brushed the wall. The field dove into the pits and the ensuing melee as everyone exited saw teammates E.J. Viso and Takuma Sato collide. Sato was perhaps luckier as the impact with Viso spun him around and pointed him back towards his stall. Sadly, the car couldn’t get back on track and Sato had his 8th DNF of the year. Hideki Mutoh ran into some hard luck as well. He lost a wheel and was forced to take a full lap before returning to the pits.

Just as the field was set to go back to green, Alex Tagliani was punted from behind by Mutoh, who was hit by Vitor Meira as they accelerated in anticipation of the restart. On Lap 91, green-flag racing finally resumed with Briscoe in front followed by Andretti and Franchitti, who hounded Sarah Fisher for second place. Fisher, driving in honor of a crew member who was retiring after this race to battle Lou Gehrig’s Disease, clung to the position until she had to make her second pit stop around Lap 130.

The racing following the next round of stops was probably the best IndyCar’s seen all year. Will Power found himself between Ryan Briscoe on the low side and Marco Andretti up high in the front row. Behind them, another row of cars going three wide meant the front six were inches apart at 219 mph. Overhead shots make this look easy, but in-car footage shows how difficult it really is. Running in a pack at 210+ mph, the track surface’s dips and ridges, coupled with the shifting airflow over the vehicles, makes the cars dance around. That’s not very comforting when you’re running a few inches from your competitors.

Power looked to be a man on a mission during the closing laps. He finally drew ahead of his opponents, and just as the field began to string out, Alex Lloyd gracefully slid through the infield at a very rapid clip. Fortunately, there was no contact, but Lloyd’s excursion brought out another yellow and started the final round of stops.

Back to racing with 23 laps to go, Dario Franchitti was up front – the eleventh different leader on Saturday. That broke the IndyCar record for lead changes in a single race. The laps ticked off, with Franchitti leading Dan Wheldon, Will Power, Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti. The top 13 cars were within a second of each other as everyone positioned themselves for the final laps. At times, cars ran four-wide. The slightest bobble by anyone dropped them back several spots, while someone with any extra momentum could pass two or three cars at a time. It was wild, close racing with drivers banging wheels and getting very close to the wall.

With five laps to go, bad luck returned for Will Power – a problem with the refueling rig left his tank completely dry. He slowed and pulled into the pits as Franchitti charged ahead, the points gap closing before everyone’s eyes. Dario took the checkered flag while Dan Wheldon and Marco Andreti made it close for second and third. By taking first place, Franchitti moves to within 23 points of Championship leader Will Power as the IndyCar series moves on to the next oval in Kentucky on September 4.

Join us then, and don’t forget to check out the full results and standings below.

Qualifying:

QP	Car	Driver	Sponsor	Team	Time	Speed
1	6	Ryan Briscoe	Team Penske	Team Penske	50.5857	216.346
2	10	Dario Franchitti	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	50.7624	215.593
3	12	Will Power	Verizon Team Penske	Verizon Team Penske	50.7792	215.521
4	3	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske	Team Penske	50.7702	215.475
5	26	Marco Andretti	Team Venom Energy	Andretti Autosport	50.8265	215.321
6	02	Graham Rahal	NHR/QuickTrim	Newman/Haas Racing	50.8281	215.314
7	4	Dan Wheldon	National Guard Panther Racing	Panther Racing	50.8789	215.099
8	06	Hideki Mutoh	Formula Dream/Panasonic	Newman/Haas Racing	50.8892	215.055
9	37	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Ethanol USA Team IZOD	Andretti Autosport	50.9074	214.979
10	5	Takuma Sato (R)	Lotus-KV Racing Technology	KV Racing Technology	50.9154	214.945
11	20	Ed Carpenter	Panther/Vision/Fuzzy’s Vodka	Panther Racing	50.9423	214.831
12	7	Danica Patrick	Team GoDaddy.com	Andretti Autosport	50.9616	214.750
13	11	Tony Kanaan	Team 7-Eleven/Planters	Andretti Autosport	50.9896	214.632
14	19	Alex Lloyd (R)	Boy Scouts of America	Dale Coyne Racing	51.0285	214.468
15	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	51.0761	214.269
16	8	E.J. Viso	PDVSA KVRT	KV Racing Technology	51.0901	214.210
17	36	Tomas Scheckter	Conquest Racing	Conquest Racing	51.1179	214.093
18	2	Raphael Matos	HP de Ferran Dragon	de Ferran Dragon Racing	51.1462	213.975
19	77	Alex Tagliani	FAZZT Race Team	FAZZT Race Team	51.1617	213.910
20	34	Bertrand Baguette (R)	Conquest Racing RACB	Conquest Racing	51.2162	213.682
21	32	Mario Moraes	KV Racing Technology	KV Racing Technology	51.2700	213.458
22	24	Ana Beatriz	Dad’s Root Beer/DRR	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	51.2770	213.429
23	22	Justin Wilson	Team Z-Line Designs/DRR	Luczo Dragon/de Ferran Mtrsprts	51.2875	213.385
24	14	Vitor Meira	ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt Racing	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	51.3547	213.106
25	67	Sarah Fisher	Dollar General/Sarah Fisher Racing	Sarah Fisher Racing	51.3573	213.095
26	18	Milka Duno	CITGO	Dale Coyne Racing	51.4342	212.777
27	78	Simona de Silvestro (R)	Team Stargate Worlds/HVM	HVM Racing	51.4625	212.660
28	21	Davey Hamilton	HP de Ferran Dragon	de Ferran Dragon Racing	51.5051	212.484
29	66	Jay Howard (R)	Service Central/Sarah Fisher Racing	Sarah Fisher Racing	51.3573	212.097

Finishing Order:

FP	Car	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Status	Points
1	10	Dario Franchitti	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	200	01:47:49.5783	Running	50
2	4	Dan Wheldon	Panther Racing	200	01:47:49.6206	Running	40
3	26	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	200	01:47:49.6834	Running	35
4	37	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	200	01:47:49.7414	Running	32
5	11	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Autosport	200	01:47:49.9191	Running	30
6	3	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske	200	01:47:50.0651	Running	28
7	22	Justin Wilson	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	200	01:47:50.1736	Running	26
8	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	200	01:47:50.4920	Running	24
9	14	Vitor Meira	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	200	01:47:50.5371	Running	22
10	02	Graham Rahal	Newman/Haas Racing	200	01:47:50.5624	Running	20
11	6	Ryan Briscoe	Team Penske	200	01:47:50.5968	Running	22
12	34	Bertrand Baguette	Conquest Racing	200	01:47:50.6616	Running	18
13	06	Hideki Mutoh	Newman/Haas Racing	200	01:47:50.8825	Running	17
14	7	Danica Patrick	Andretti Autosport	200	01:47:51.1441	Running	16
15	67	Sarah Fisher	Sarah Fisher Racing	199	01:47:51.6270	Running	15
16	12	Will Power	Team Penske	199	01:47:58.1955	Running	14
17	32	Mario Moraes	KV Racing Technology	199	01:48:01.2063	Running	13
18	21	Davey Hamilton	de Ferran Dragon Racing	199	01:48:01.3746	Running	12
19	18	Milka Duno	Dale Coyne Racing	197	01:47:51.7735	Running	12
20	20	Ed Carpenter	Panther Racing	179	01:39:43.6087	Mechanical	12
21	66	Jay Howard (R)	Sarah Fisher Racing	162	01:47:51.4765	Mechanical	12
22	19	Alex Lloyd	Dale Coyne Racing	161	01:39:19.4910	Running	12
23	78	Simona De Silvestro	Team Stargate Worlds/HVM	150	01:25:03.1938	Mechanical	12
24	24	Ana Beatriz	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	88	01:34:52.8506	Mechanical	12
25	77	Alex Tagliani	FAZZT Race Team	85	00:50:05.2152	Contact	10
26	5	Takuma Sato	KV Racing Technology	80	00:44:19.7999	Contact	10
27	8	E.J. Viso	KV Racing Technology	80	00:44:20.5096	Contact	10
28	36	Tomas Scheckter	Conquest Racing	4	00:01:45.1407	Contact	10
29	2	Raphael Matos	de Ferran Dragon Racing	4	00:01:45.4504	Contact	10

Driver’s Standings:

CP	Driver	Champ Lead	Oval Lead	Road Lead	Points	Gap
1	Will Power	X		X	528	0
2	Dario Franchitti				505	-23
3	Scott Dixon		X		443	-85
4	Ryan Briscoe				406	-122
5	Helio Castroneves				398	-130
6	Ryan Hunter-Reay				392	-136
7	Tony Kanaan				360	-168
8	Marco Andretti				319	-209
9	Justin Wilson				316	-212
10	Dan Wheldon				309	-219

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