Firestone Indy 200: Scott Dixon takes the night race (July 16, 2006)
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0 commentsThe early goings of the race saw Wheldon leading in the early goings, followed by points leader Sam Hornish Jr. Vitor Meira, showing strong in yet another IRL start without a win (55 starts so far, with 20 top 5 finishes), ran third for most of the race and would finish in that position.
The turning point came, however, when Hornish hit the wall on lap 128 then slid into the infield, knocking the points leader out of the race. Dixon, with the help of short pit stops, took the lead on lap 134 and held on.
Hornish's bad fortune came during the cycle of pit stops. The beneficiary of this was Danica Patrick, who had yet to pit. She was able to do so under yellow and keep with the leaders. With a conservative fuel strategy, Patrick was able to slowly creep up for her best finish of 2006 by far, fourth place.
Rounding out the lead lap field were Helio Castroneves, who never challenged but finished in fifth place, and defending Nashville champ Dario Franchitti, who couldn't get higher than fifth due to steering issues and possible blocking by Danica Patrick.
With his win, Dixon jumps into 2nd place in the IRL standings. The points race is wide open, with Hornish only holding off Dixon by 5 points, and only 16 separating him from fourth place Dan Wheldon.
Next week, the IRL will be at the Milwaukee Mile.
Top 10
- Scott Dixon
- Dan Wheldon
- Vitor Meira
- Danica Patrick
- Helio Castroneves
- Dario Franchitti
- Jeff Simmons
- Marco Andretti
- Ryan Briscoe
- Ed Carpenter
Date
July 15, 2006
