Franchitti started from the pole and led much of the race.
His first pit stop was a disaster, as a wheel nut stuck dropping him from first to fifteenth, but he drove smart, avoided the many accidents and incidents which thinned the field.
“It’s great to be back in Canada and bring the Target car to Victory Lane,” said Franchitti, who won at Toronto in 1999. “It was a tough race. In the middle of the race, I thought we were really going to struggle to get a good result. Through good strategy, a fast car and pushing [hard], we got to there.”
On lap 59 Franchitti caught a break as he was entering the pits just as a yellow flag came out due to Ed Carpenter hitting Grahama Rahal. Franchitti had cleared the pit entry line by millimeters when the flag waved, so he was allowed to pit while the rest of the field had to keep circling. When he came back out he was in third place behind Paul Tracy, but track stewards awarded him second, because Tracy had passed him while pitted (a decision Tracy is disputes.)
On the next lap, Franchitti passed Helio Castroneves for the lead. Castroneves was on an aging set of red tires, and couldn’t contest the position.
Franchitti stayed in the lead for the final twenty laps and rolled home to take the win and the championship points lead.
In what was a huge disappointment to the fans, the two Canadian drivers, Alex Tagliani and Paul Tracy, finished poorly despite running one-two for several laps. Tagliani had bad luck timing his pit stops; he got caught out on the lap 59 caution when Franchitti got into the pits. Tagliani had been leading the race, but he lost several places in the pits. He worked hard to get back to the front, but had too far to go.
