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Scott
Dixon wins the Motorola Indy 300 at Infineon Raceway...
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While Dario Franchitti led the
entire race except for when he was on pit road, when it came
time for his final pit stop, he and the crew came up slow, and
that set the stage for yet another late-race mistake on
Franchitti's part. Both Scott Dixon and Marco Andretti were
able, due to less time spent on pit road, to cycle around ahead
of Franchitti. While Dario easily got passed Dixon, who was on
cold tires when Dixon didn't try for the block most other
drivers would have made. Then for some reason, rather than
waiting to pass Marco coming off pit road, Dario chose to dive
under him as Marco turned to make a corner. The resulting
contact sent Marco into the dirt with a stalled car, and damaged
the left front wing on Dario's Dallara to the point where he
couldn't hold off Dixon on the resulting restart.
It appears to me that
Franchitti has let his desire to win the series championship get
the best of him, although I can't fault him for try and desire.
Dario got behind Dixon at Kentucky Speedway after a pit stop and
then tried lap-after-lap to make the outside pass on him,
finally getting high and into the marbles, where he made the
save that few could have done. Then focused on regaining lost
positions, Dario ran over the back of Kosuke Matsuura's Dallara
going into turn one after the checkered flag and did another
blow-over, his car hitting the SAFER upside-down, rear wing
first. Just as an aside, that night Dario's spotter came into
the Media Center, and I heard him tell a team representative
that he had never called "checkered flag, race over, and if
he did Dario would have he had gone nuts." I bet he makes
that call now.
Yesterday there was no
reason for Dario to rush past Marco, he had made several passes
on drivers with cold tires after stops, and with Dario the race
and points leader, Marco wouldn't have blocked any pass attempt.
Without Franchitti's mistake, AGR could have ended up with a
race win, Marco in 2nd place, Kanaan would have finished 4th at
least and Patrick 6th. Franchitti actually would have increased
a points lead he has now lost. Michael Andretti, for the first
time since he has owned the team, appeared on camera openly
critical of one of his drivers. Michael, having been there,
doesn't do that. Michael wasn't alone in being angry though, it
seemed like almost everyone was mad about something, Dixon upset
with Kanaan over his driving a wide car, Ryan Hunter-Reay was
upset with Marco Andretti for early contact that took him out of
the race and at the finish. I expect almost everyone will be
upset with Kanaan this week for not passing Dario as he was told
to do, and then keeping at least Hornish from getting past as
well. If nothing else, Tony kept Danica from having to decide
whether to pass or follow Dario when it became her turn. The
next race will be at Belle Isle whis weekend.
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***
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(The start) This time the
Dario/Danica show got underway cleanly in single file until
Marco Andretti got pushed into the dirt by Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Somewhere in the lap Kanaan got past Patrick but she got past
him again in the "S" turns. Also on the 1st lap Helio
Castroneves was seen in an obvious block on Scott Dixon. It
turns out that TK jumped the start on Patrick and had to give
her the spot back.
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***
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(Lap 6) Contact on the 1st lap
has caused problems with both the Hunter-Reay and Andretti cars,
and Hunter-Reay had to pit with wing and brake troubles.
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***
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("Parade" lap-20)
Heading towards the first pit stop possibility, when the first
to pit under green is at an advantage when a caution comes out
(unlike on ovals), this has been a lockstep parade that foes of
road and street races always complain about, me included. The
problem is the perception of the casual fan at home on the couch
is that "this 'Indy' racing stinks." I think that was
one of the reasons CART TV fell out of favor, and the CCWS is
doing even worse.
Dan Wheldon pitted on lap 20,
then it was Patrick in on the next lap and Franchitti, Hornish,
Castroneves and others were in on lap 22. Then it was Kanaan,
Dixon and the rest on lap 23. Patrick must have gotten a full
load of fuel while the two Penske cars short-pitted, because
Danica ended up behind them after the cars cycled around.
Franchitti barely kept his lead and Dixon slotted into 3rd
behind Kanaan. If Team Penske did short pit they might have to
hit pit road before the next "window" opens. In my
opinion, the absolute earliest you can pit again and go the
remaining race distance would be on lap 52. Hornish spun and
lost one position to Danica Patrick, now running 5th with Sam
back to 6th.
Wheldon first to pit by design on lap 20, and may have committed
to a three-stop race. Danica was in on lap 22. Ryan Hunter-Reay
and Sarah Fisher are out of the race, Fisher has gearbox issues
and the team may fix it, but why bother, she is a rolling
chicane on roads and streets anyway.
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***
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(Lap 37) Hornish in the pits
for fuel and tires, if he didn't have a suspected puncture, it's
proof positive that Team Penske did short-pit, lets see what
Helio will do. It was during side-by-side, so I'm awaiting the
commentary For sure Sam is on a two stop plan. Wheldon is in now
too, and we do know he short-pitted, and Helio is do in soon and
is now on pit road. With these (also short-pitted) stops, that
mandates that at least some drivers will have to try to get to
lap 50 at least before stopping, and perhaps as late as lap 52.
Kanaan and Dixon were the last of the contenders to pit. Radio
traffic is indicating stops in 5 laps, so perhaps they can't
make it on two stops.
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***
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(Lap 43) TK in to the pits, so I
am wrong, everyone will have to make three stops. Patrick in on
lap 44, a full-fuel fill stop. Franchitti/Andretti in on lap 45,
as I suspected, Scott Dixon, now in the lead will be the last to
pit. Scott Sharp tried to force his way under Danica, hit her
and spun. Dixon in on lap 46/47, another short-pit, but while
Dixon didn't catch Dario, he did get past TK momentarily, but
cold tires did him in and TK got back around him. Dixon had all
he could do to keep Helio back with a wheel-to-wheel nudge.
Danica is the only driver that got a full fuel load, and
it doesn't matter, if the fuel consumption is what it appears to
be, she can't go the distance even with cautions. I expect
someone to roll the dice someone past lap 55, for a fill and
attempt to be 1st if a caution ever comes out. The Penske cars
are due in on lap 60 anyway.
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***
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(Lap 50-plus) I expect Wheldon
or Hornish to be 1st to pit, and soon. Castroneves turned out to
be 1st in on lap 58. Any caution now and Helio will be the race
leader IF he got enough fuel on what was another short stop.
Lets see when the real contenders come in. Wheldon will pit on
lap 60, Wheldon took off as soon as the tires were changed.
Dario's crew says he will pit in 5 laps... Hornish in on lap 61.
He pitted before Helio, so Team Penske is really pushing the
window with Helio in an all-out attempt to steal a win IF there
is a caution. To do that Helio and the team need a caution NOW,
before Dario pits, because they sure won't cycle around ahead of
him. All that's left for Danica is a fast as possible stop, and
then she stalled the car. Dario in with 16 laps left, tires and
fuel and go. Dario took longer than expected, but he still
cycled out before everyone and now it's up to TCGR and Dixon, I
don't even see them putting tires on. Dixon is now calling
"the tires are gone," so with a tire change, he won't
cycle ahead of Dario. Tires are changed, Dixon out quickly and
did manage to come out ahead of Dario on cold tires, even though
Dixon couldn't hold Franchitti off, he did manage to stay ahead
of Kanaan and will get the best possible points position IF
Dario continues on to win. Marco Andretti was last to pit and
also came out ahead of Dario and Dario got under him and then
left front to right rear tire contact was made, causing Marco to
spin into the dirt. The resulting caution insures that even
Helio will finish the race on whatever fuel he has in the tank.
Dario has left-front wing damage that appears to not be
manageable to me, as I expect it to break off and possibly punch
out a tire. There will be no more than 9-laps to go when the
race will be restarted. I make these calls in the fly in
"running recaps," and stick with them right or wrong,
I don't delete. I don't think Dario will win this race.
The race restarted with 8
laps remaining, and Dixon got him within two turns. Then there
was trouble between Castroneves and Kanaan and Helio got past
TK. With 7 laps remaining Scott Sharp spun again and collected
AJ Foyt IV. Foyt is blameless, Sharp, after two other spins (at
least) should have been parked. The race was restarted with 4
laps to go. Franchitti was still in 3rd behind Castroneves and
it appears that TK will follow Franchitti and protect his
backside. There will be a stink about this all next week, but
unless Kanaan blocks Sam Hornish, all's fair. As I see it,
Hornish never got into a position where he could pass Kanaan,
block or not. Dixon wins... I don't see where Hornish had any
more chance of passing Kanaan than Helio had of passing Dixon.
Scott Dixon had Kanaan complaints in the winner's interview, but
in the end said he thought his team would have done the same
thing in that situation. Here's the unofficial results...
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Pos
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Driver
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Best
Time
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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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Scott
Dixon (9)
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1:17.7923
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106.437
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65
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80
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2
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Helio
Castroneves (3)
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1:17.7894
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106.441
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43
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80
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3
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Dario
Franchitti (27)
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1:17.9243
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106.257
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53
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80
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4
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Tony
Kanaan (11)
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1:17.5524
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106.767
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66
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80
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5
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Sam
Hornish Jr (6)
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1:18.4220
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105.583
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67
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80
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6
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Danica
Patrick (7)
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1:18.4205
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105.585
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56
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80
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7
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Dan
Wheldon (10)
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1:18.4656
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105.524
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66
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80
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8
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Tomas
Scheckter (2)
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1:18.8632
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104.992
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21
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80
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9
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Vitor
Meira (4)
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1:18.9032
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104.939
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20
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80
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10
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Kosuke
Matsuura (55)
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1:18.9935
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104.819
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30
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80
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11
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Buddy
Rice (15)
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1:18.9288
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104.905
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42
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79
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12
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Darren
Manning (14)
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1:19.2906
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104.426
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20
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79
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13
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Ed
Carpenter (20)
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1:19.4358
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104.235
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47
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79
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14
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Scott
Sharp (8)
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1:19.5041
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104.146
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52
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79
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15
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AJ
Foyt IV (22)
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1:19.5116
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104.136
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61
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71
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16
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Marco
Andretti (26)
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1:17.7987
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106.429
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66
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68
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17
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Sarah
Fisher (5)
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1:22.1938
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100.738
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3
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28
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18
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Ryan
Hunter-Reay (17)
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1:19.6659
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103.934
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5
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5
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A nearly uneventful morning warm up is ended
with only Buddy Rice having a minor mishap, but still able to continue on
and run 15 laps at a decent speed. Race pace looks to be in the 105-106
mph range, but as with the morning practice yesterday, fog and cooler
temperatures prevailed, and once it clears we should see conditions more
like what they had in qualifying Saturday. The race will be shown on ESPN
Follow the race in a running recap format here. The IndyCar T&S chart
for today's warm up shows the first practice session where Helio
Castroneves didn't top the charts.
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Pos
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Driver
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Best Time
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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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1:17.4598
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106.894
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15
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16
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2
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Helio Castroneves
(3)
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1:17.4641
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106.888
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12
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19
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3
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Tony Kanaan (11)
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1:17.5742
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106.737
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9
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13
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4
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Scott Dixon (9)
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1:17.6691
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106.606
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9
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16
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5
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Dan Wheldon (10)
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1:17.7568
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106.486
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11
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21
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6
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Dario Franchitti
(27)
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1:17.8407
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106.371
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11
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13
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7
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Sam Hornish Jr (6)
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1:18.1189
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105.992
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7
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17
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8
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Tomas Scheckter
(2)
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1:18.2281
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105.844
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18
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18
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9
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Ryan Hunter-Reay
(17)
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1:18.2696
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105.788
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11
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17
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10
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Kosuke Matsuura
(55)
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1:18.4457
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105.551
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16
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17
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11
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Vitor Meira (4)
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1:18.5830
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105.366
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15
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19
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12
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Buddy Rice (15)
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1:18.6325
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105.300
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14
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15
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