INDYCARNATION

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Team Venom Energy race strategist Kyle Moyer was “looking for a yellow” to aid race leader Marco Andretti. It came, but too late to help the Andretti Autosport driver from seeing the dual checkers for the second time in his IZOD IndyCar Series career.

Instead, the No. 26 car had to pit for a 3.3-second splash of 100 percent fuel-grade ethanol on Lap 82 of 90, relinquishing the lead to Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves.

That’s all it took in a race full of fuel strategy and excitement – with all 25 cars running at the finish for the first time in IZOD IndyCar Series history, only two brief full-course cautions breaking up the lap dashes and a crowd double that of any event previously held at Barber Motorsports Park (53,555; three-day total of 84,126) cheering on every lap.

“The inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Alabama far exceeded our expectations,” said Gene Hallman, president and CEO of event promoter ZOOM Motorsports.

Castroneves, winning his first road/street course race since Infineon in August 2008, had a similar assessment. He stopped the No. 3 Team Penske car on the cool-down lap and thanked spectators for attending the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Alabama by climbing the safety fence in Turn 9.

“I had to work that in,” said Castroneves, who was joined in Victory Circle by his 3½-month-old daughter. “The people here have been great all week.”

Castroneves, who extended his series record with a victory to 10 consecutive seasons, won by 0.5703 of a second over Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, who started fifth. Teammate Dario Franchitti, the reigning IZOD IndyCar Series champion, moved up four positions to finish third (his third consecutive top 10 to start the season).

Castroneves’ victory also denied teammate Will Power of a series-record third consecutive victory to start the 17-race season. Power, the pole sitter who had to pit for the final time on Lap 63 (dropping him to seventh), advanced to finish fourth. Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe was sixth and Justin Wilson advanced four spots to seventh. Tony Kanaan in eighth was followed by front-row starter Mike Conway and Alex Tagliani (moved up 11 positions).

“It is great having Helio win, which makes it three wins to start the season for Team Penske,” said Power, who led the first 12 laps. “In the strategy meeting before the race we talked about it and we knew that a caution in the early part of the race would not be to our favor. We made the best of it though. The No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car was fast today.”

Power retains the championship points lead, though his margin was cut from 45 to 32 over Castroneves (104). Franchitti is third (94) as the series heads to the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 18. “I think we’ll be strong there,” said Power, who started from the pole on the temporary street circuit in ’09.

Castroneves tied Franchitti and Tommy Milton on the all-time open-wheel racing victory list with 23. He led three different times through the initial 61 laps on the 2.38-mile, 17-course and was 0.4170 of a second behind Andretti with 10 laps left. The fast pace forced Andretti to pit on Lap 82 (his last was on Lap 57). As racing luck would have it, a full-course yellow was called on Lap 86 when the No. 78 car of rookie Simona De Silvestro spun in Turn 5.

The race to the finish resumed two laps later.

“We have to be happy to put the Venom car into the top five, especially after our finishes on road courses last year,” said Andretti, who led a field-high 58 laps. “I think maybe we could have stretched out each of our stints a bit longer and gained on fuel one lap at a time. Helio just went longer than us each time and that was the difference at the end. He was able to go that much farther and we fell short. Now we just have to keep marching forward.

“Overall, I think this shows we're on the right track."

Castroneves’ final pit stop for tires and fuel came on Lap 61.

“He was driving like remind me like his father, Michael Andretti,” Castroneves said. “Hell of a job. Then, when I was behind him, I was just saving fuel and trying to make sure that I could reach the number that they were asking me to do. We were able to actually go a little farther than that. It was a great situation. 

“When we pitted after Scott and Dario, Marco was able to do an incredible job and back again in the lead. So I felt like I had a better car than Marco, but, unfortunately, I just couldn't pass him. And I was just patient and waiting for an opportunity, and well, I guess we were able to be smart enough to save a lot of fuel. 

“Towards the end, we just had a yellow flag. I didn't ask for that, especially when you have Scott Dixon and those guys behind you. So I just decided to make sure do not give any opportunities for those guys, and that's what I did.”

Dixon, who started fifth, posted his best finish of the season.
 
“It was a good day for Team Target all in all with both cars in the top three,” he said. “We could have been better off if we would have got around Helio. It was hard to have the team telling me to save fuel and try to manage the fuel gauge, but still push. This track is all about track position. We didn’t have the fastest cars, but we made use of what we had. Standing at the podium in second and third is pretty impressive. We are looking forward to Long Beach.”
 
 

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