Kansas City, KS (Sports Network) - Dan Wheldon dominated late and captured
Sunday's Kansas Lottery Indy 300 at the Kansas Speedway. The No.10 Target Chip
Ganassi Racing driver crossed the finish line 18.4830 seconds ahead of Dario
Franchitti.
The victory was Wheldon's second of the season and 13th of his IndyCar career.
"The crew did a fantastic job," said Wheldon. "I've been very frustrated since
Motegi and I wanted to prove a point. The car was fantastic."
Pole winner Tony Kanaan led the field to the green flag but very early on Dan
Wheldon went flying by him for the lead. he quickly built a lead of more than
one second.
Through 30 laps and Wheldon maintained his one-second lead on Kanaan and Scott
Dixon.
But Kanaan would not be able to compete on the afternoon after he and his
Andretti Green Racing teammate Danica Patrick collided on pit lane. Patrick
was pulling out just as Kanaan was turning into his pit and they hit. Patrick
continued on, but Kanaan ended up many laps down because his left-front
suspension was bent and the team had to replace parts before he could return
to the track.
Wheldon and teammate Dixon took complete control of the race and as they made
their final pit stops were one-two.
Dixon beat Wheldon off pit lane to take the race lead, but he wouldn't be
there long. Unfortunately, Dixon had not brought his No.9 Honda below the line
soon enough and IndyCar officials penalized him for the "late turn-in."
The penalty was a pit lane driver through and it left Dixon in fifth place
more than 19 seconds behind Wheldon.
With Kanaan well back and Dixon suffering the penalty, Wheldon found himself
comfortably with an 11-second lead over Franchitti and just 35 laps to go.
Wheldon maintained the gap between 10 and 12 seconds throughout the final laps
until Scott Sharp crashed on lap 198. The race would finish under caution.
Milka Duno, in her first-ever IndyCar start, finished 14th.
Helio Castroneves, Dixon and Tomas Scheckter completed the top-five.
"We had a flawless day," said Chip Ganassi, owner of Wheldon's car.
Wheldon will head to Indianapolis with a 27-point lead over Dixon (171-144).
Castroneves is third, 35 points back and Franchitti is fourth just 40 points
behind the leader.
The next race in the series is the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 27th.