“It was tough … what a long race,” Dixon said afterwards. “I am just so stoked that we won here at the Milwaukee Mile.”
The Milwaukee Mile is one of the oldest tracks in the country; it has been hosting races since 1903. The quick, one-mile oval is challenging because the leaders hit lapped traffic early in the race, and have to negotiate slower cars throughout most of the race. Winning driver need to look far ahead and set up passes well in advance, depending on where the slower cars might be.
“That’s the problem of the whole day, “Scott Dixon explained. You’ve got to try and get a clean way through traffic.”
Scott Dixon trailed pole-sitting Penske driver Ryan Briscoe until lap 195, when Dixon’s team told him he had enough fuel to go all-out to the finish. Still, Dixon waited patiently, waiting for lapped traffic to give him an advantage. On lap 210, Dixon saw his chance when the leading pair approached Tomas Schecter, one lap down. Briscoe hesitated for a fraction of a second before dropping inside Schecter; Dixon dropped underneath both and managed to squeeze past into the lead.
“I actually had a run on him [Ryan Briscoe] several times, and he ran me to the bottom there,” Dixon explained. “That’s how I got him. He tried to go below, I got a run high and then I got him underneath him going into Three.”
Once in the lead, Dixon pulled away by a three-second margin. Ryan Briscoe, working against growing understeer, was not able to catch Dixon, but he was able to hold off Dixon’s teammate Dario Franchitti.
Graham Rahal, who started strong but had trouble managing traffic, found his stride in the final two dozen laps, and finished fourth, only a few seconds behind Franchitti.
“I can think of three or four opportunities I had to go underneath (Ryan) Briscoe and Dixie (Scott Dixon) and Dario (Franchitti), and I lifted every time just because it was early (in the race), “Rahal said. “I didn’t foresee that with six laps to go there was going to be so many lapped cars between us.
“We definitely had the pace. I don’t think there was anyone quicker than we were.”
Danica Patrick rounded out the top five, the fourth race this season in which she has finished fifth or better.
Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves crashed in qualifying and had to start last. Many thought his charge to the front would be the highlight of the race, but it was not to be. Helio battled all day with an ill-handling car, finally finishing two laps down in 11th.
“We didn’t have much, unfortunately,” he said. “This was one of those days when you ask how many laps left to go, and it’s like ‘743 left.’ ‘What!?’ It was one of those days that never ends; it was a long day for us.”
Tony Kanaan, driving with severely injured ribs after his 195 g crash at Indy, took the lead on the first lap and led until Ryan Briscoe passed him on lap 26. From there his day went downhill, as his car understeered worse with each passing lap until lap 135, when he pulled into the pits with smoke billowing from his car. He had to be helped from the cockpit while the fire crew fought the flames. His day was over.
“It was a tough day for the No. 11 team, Kanaan said after the race. “We had such a strong car, and I was confident that we would have a strong finish. We don’t know what happened to the car, it caught fire, so we need to do some research on that situation. It was a hard month, and I was hoping we would bounce back with a great race here, but unfortunately that was not the case.”
The win gave Scott Dixon a small lead in the Championship with Ryan Briscoe and Dario Franchitti tied for second. Danica Patrick moved up to fourth, while Helio Castroneves fell back to fifth position.
The next IRL IndyCar race will be the Bombardier Learjet 550 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, June 6. Please visit http://www.texasmotorspeedway.com for ticket information.
The Milwaukee Mile Race Results | |||||
Pos. | No | Driver | Team | Status | Pts |
1 | 9 | Target Chip Ganassi Racing | Running | 50 | |
2 | 6 | Team Penske | Running | 43 | |
3 | 10 | TOM TOM | Running | 35 | |
4 | 02 | McDonald’s Racing Team | Running | 32 | |
5 | 7 | Boost Mobile/Motorola | Running | 30 | |
6 | 2 | US Marines Luczo Dragon Racing | Running | 28 | |
7 | 26 | Team Venom Energy | Running | 26 | |
8 | 27 | Formula Dream | Running | 24 | |
9 | 5 | KV Racing Technology/Votorantim | Running | 22 | |
10 | 4 | National Guard Panther Racing | Running | 20 | |
11 | 3 | Team Penske | Running | 19 | |
12 | 21 | IZOD/WilliamRast/Vision Racing | Running | 18 | |
13 | 23 | Charter/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | Running | 17 | |
14 | 06 | Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing | Running | 16 | |
15 | 18 | Z-Line Designs | Running | 15 | |
16 | 20 | Menards/Vision Racing | Running | 14 | |
17 | 14 | ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing | Running | 13 | |
18 | 13 | PDVSA HVM Racing | Mechanical | 12 | |
19 | 11 | Team 7-Eleven | Mechanical | 12 | |
20 | 24 | Roll Coater Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | Contact | 12 |
Championship Points | |||
Place | Driver | Points | Gap |
1 | Scott Dixon | 161 |
|
2 | Dario Franchitti | 157 | 4 |
3 | Ryan Briscoe | 157 | 4 |
4 | Danica Patrick | 139 | 22 |
5 | Helio Castroneves | 136 | 25 |
6 | Dan Wheldon | 126 | 35 |
7 | Tony Kanaan | 122 | 39 |
8 | Graham Rahal | 114 | 47 |
9 | Marco Andretti | 109 | 52 |
10 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 102 | 59 |
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