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Before I get too deep into
today's coverage and the running recap of the race, here are a
couple of links to the previous day's coverage and Dennis Sylvia
photos, here's Friday
and Saturday
content.
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Marco
Andretti wins The Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma.
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Marco Andretti parks it in Victory
Circle, The NYSE will get a lot of mileage from this win.
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At this point in the race Marco
Andretti and the entire AGR team felt that Danica, who they they
must have thought was close to a lap down was holding Marco up,
so they complained to IndyCar officials. When told she was ahead
of them they withdrew the complaint. Never mind...
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A Buddy Rice pit
stop.
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Clearly Dixon jumped the start
over Marco Andretti on the way to dominating most of the race.
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***
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(Last lap) Meira gets around
Dixon and both of them pass Castroneves. Kanaan pits for fuel as
well. Marco Andretti wins, followed by Franchitti, Meira, Dixon
and Castroneves. Here's the final IndyCar T&S chart and
unofficial finish. Apparently Castroneves, Dixon and Meira
got jammed up behind a slowing and out of fuel Tony Kanaan and
Meira came out 3rd. Helio regained the points lead over Hornish,
but by only one point.
If you read too many
internet IndyCar related forums you would get the opinion that
no one likes or wants road and street racing, but this is the
6th example of it, and the only one that was close to being a
stinker was the one at Infineon last year. Every other
race has offered it's share of IndyCar excitement.
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Pos
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Driver
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Diff
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Best Speed
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Best Lap
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Last Lap
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1
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Marco Andretti
(26)
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...
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104.532
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27
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80
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2
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Dario Franchitti
(27)
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0.6557
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104.500
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43
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80
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3
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Vitor Meira (4)
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10.6535
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104.192
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41
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80
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4
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Scott Dixon (9)
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11.1867
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104.705
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25
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80
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5
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Helio Castroneves
(3)
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12.5049
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104.665
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43
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80
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6
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Dan Wheldon (10)
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13.4494
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104.080
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32
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80
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7
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Jeff Simmons (17)
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13.8754
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103.838
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37
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80
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8
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Danica Patrick
(16)
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15.7417
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103.978
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71
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80
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9
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Sam Hornish Jr (6)
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16.3369
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104.055
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43
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80
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10
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Bryan Herta (7)
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18.5571
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104.470
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36
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80
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11
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Tony Kanaan (11)
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40.6636
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105.234
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43
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80
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12
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Ed Carpenter (20)
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1 lap
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102.949
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36
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79
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13
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Kosuke Matsuura
(55)
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4.3460
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103.315
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18
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79
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14
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Scott Sharp (8)
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4.8812
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102.810
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60
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79
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15
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Buddy Rice (15)
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5 laps
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103.640
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39
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75
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16
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Ryan Briscoe (5)
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13 laps
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104.601
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22
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67
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17
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Tomas Scheckter
(2)
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36 laps
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102.468
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43
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44
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18
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Jeff Bucknum (14)
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71 laps
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102.197
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9
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9
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(Lap 72) Caution, Herta spins, the
question is whether Bryan might have "taken one for the
team?" If there are any fuel issues for the AGR drivers,
this could help.
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***
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(Lap 71) Franchitti passes
Kanaan, Vitor overcooks a turn and Dixon and others pass him.
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(Lap 69) Danica on pit road for a
timed stop, Marco leads by 5 seconds and shouldn't be
"reaching" that far, Kanaan and Franchitti are going
as slow as possible and still keep Helio behind themselves.. If
any of the three AGR cars aren't going to go the distance it
should be Marco..
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***
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(Lap 60-something) With
Marco in a comfortable lead and 2nd place Kanaan bunching up the
pack behind him as he conserves fuel, they are working Marco on
the radio to get him to save fuel.
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***
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(Lap 53) Just when it looked like
Hornish might protect his points position he entered pit road
for fuel only and was in deep trouble. Reportedly on the last
stop the fuel hose wouldn't reach the car, so no fuel was added.
If that wasn't bad enough, Sam spun after exiting the pits. With
Sam's trouble giving him some breathing room, and Dixon 4 spots
behind him with a mad-on, flying around the course in the
fastest car, Castroneves has to get going, not all those cars in
front of him will stop again, if he doesn't pressure them they
surely won't.
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***
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(Lap 52) Everyone to pit road
but Andretti, Kanaan. Patrick, Rice and Hornish and than TCGR
blew another pit stop on the race leader Scott Dixon's car,
having trouble getting the wheel nut on the left front corner of
the car. Dario Franchitti passed Castroneves in the pit and is
now first of those who pitted and in 6th behind Hornish. Those
first five may go the distance, but there will be darn little
fuel in the tanks when the race ends. Get this though, road race
challenged or not, Sam Hornish Jr. is ahead of teammate
Castroneves on the restart
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***
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(Lap 50, contact between Wheldon
and Simmons) What a break for Andretti and Kanaan, the rest of
the field will have to pit and will be able to go the distance
on fuel from there. The two AGR cars had just pitted, and the
caution flag should assure them going the distance with Dixon
behind them. The only question now will be if Wheldon can
continue without stopping. Wheldon has front wing damage.
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***
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(Caution on leader lap 44)
Contact between Kosuke Matsuura and Buddy Rice. Matsuura stopped
on the course, Rice had front wing damage and pitted on lap 45.
Marco Andretti pitted on lap 46, he could be the first into the
pits that could go the distance without stopping again, but it
will be a reach and need yellow flag help. This COULD be a race
winning move. Wheldon and Kanaan pitted as well.
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***
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(Lap 39) Dan Wheldon, who was
first to pit on lap 12 headed for pit road, he won't be able to
go the rest of the distance now, but Dixon was about to pass him
anyway. The green flag stop took 7.5 seconds. Two laps later it
was Danica Patrick into the pits as well for a long 11 second
stop, but I'm sure the crew packed the car with fuel. Simmons in
on lap 42.
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***
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(Lap 28) Castroneves, Meira and
Matsuura in early as well, forcing Dixon and Andretti in a lap
later. Now that everyone has pitted at least once, this is what
the latest T&S chart looks like, note that Dixon has been
running so fast that he almost held the lead even while pitting
and Marco is in good shape as well. Danica Patrick is running a
heck of a race. Look for the group of drivers that pitted early
to try to stretch their stops as long as possible under green,
trying for lap 45 or longer, but more realistically around lap
43. If that's the case, they'll need some caution help to run
the rest of the race distance.
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Pos
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Driver
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Diff
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Best Time
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Best Speed
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Last Lap
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1
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Dan Wheldon (10)
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...
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1:19.9367
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103.582
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29
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2
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Scott Dixon (9)
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7.6271
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1:19.0791
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104.705
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29
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