Fort Worth, TX (Sports Network) - Sam Hornish Jr. had the fastest car all
night, but needed to hold off a charging Tony Kanaan to win Saturday night's
Bombardier Learjet 550k at the Texas Motor Speedway. The No.6 Penske Racing
Honda crossed the finish line just two lengths ahead of Kanaan.
Hornish Jr. led a race-high 159 laps.
The victory was the three-time IndyCar Series champion's first of the season
and 19th of his IndyCar career.
Scott Sharp brought the field to the green flag for 228 laps of high-speed
racing, but he quickly gave way to Hornish Jr. The race continued under green
and Hornish Jr. led all the way until his first pit stop.
Meanwhile, Dan Wheldon, Kanaan and Scott Dixon seemed to be the only drivers
that could keep pace with the No.6 Penske Honda.
Near the end of the first round of stops, on lap 47, Jon Herb spun at the
entrance to pit lane to bring out the caution flag and the flag left Vitor
Meira in the lead. The No.4 finally made his stop and Wheldon inherited the
lead because his crew had the fastest stop.
But Hornish Jr. was not to be denied and he retook the lead from Wheldon. They
exchanged the lead back and forth as the field passed the 80-lap mark.
Tomas Scheckter brought out a caution flag after he and Marco Andretti touched
wheels. The irate Scheckter got out of his car and waiting for Andretti to
complete the next lap threw his gloves at the young Andretti.
"Its obvious...the guy just swerved into me," said Scheckter. "Someone has to
look at this...he's extremely lucky that no one got hurt."
Andretti was given a "drive-thru" penalty for the incident which put him down
a lap to the leaders.
Again, Wheldon's crew got him out first with Dixon and Hornish Jr. just
behind. Hornish Jr. and Dixon both got around Wheldon for the lead as they
were about to reach the 100-lap mark.
The lead trio began to break away from fourth-place Danica Patrick. Tony
Kanaan, in fifth, couldn't let them get away and got around Patrick to take up
the chase to join the top group.
Kanaan with Patrick and Helio Castroneves in tow, caught the lead trio to make
it a "gang of six."
Hornish Jr. continued to show the way although Dixon was right on his bumper.
Dixon had a chance when they flew around the lapped car of Milka Duno, but
couldn't make it stick.
Patrick and Castroneves began to fade, but Kanaan could still run in the front
group - now four cars.
Hornish Jr. made an early green-flag pit stop on lap 141 and Dixon inherited
the lead as the field began a round of stops. This time, Hornish Jr was out
quickly and as everyone cycled through Hornish Jr. was still in the lead and
in fact, was more than four seconds ahead after 155 laps.
Dixon, Wheldon and Kanaan were in the group now about five seconds behind
Hornish Jr. after 10 more laps.
Could anybody catch Hornish Jr.?
Wheldon slipped by Dixon for second place but on lap 175 he was still 6.0353
seconds behind the leader. Hornish Jr. was increasing the gap on each lap.
They would need a caution flag, or a mistake by Hornish Jr. to get back within
sight of the red and white No.6 Honda.
Final green-flag stops began with Castroneves on lap 186. Hornish Jr. came in
two laps later with more than a seven-second lead. A nine-second stop, with no
mistakes, set him up for a smooth ride to the checkered flag.
But that doesn't usually happen in IndyCar racing.
Sarah Fisher suddenly slowed on the backstretch of lap 199. But the caution
flag never came out as she nursed the car back to pit lane.
They cycled through final stops, the last car being Jeff Simmons and Hornish
Jr. inherited the lead once again.
Then on lap 199, a six-car incident cost Wheldon any shot at the win. A.J.
Foyt IV, Castroneves, Dixon, Ed Carpenter and Darren Manning were the other
cars involved. It appeared that Foyt lost a tire and as Carpenter slowed down
he got hit by Dixon and Manning.
The incident also erased Hornish Jr.'s now eight-second lead.
The race would restart on lap 205 with Hornish Jr. leading Kanaan, Patrick,
Dario Franchitti and Meira.
Hornish Jr. quickly built a lead of about 10 lengths as Kanaan and Patrick
were trying to get around a couple of lapped cars. Kanaan finally got clear
air and he began to close on Hornish Jr. Patrick got clear, but she was one
second behind the two leaders.
With 13 laps to go, the margin was just 0.1954 seconds. Hornish Jr. and
Kanaan were almost side-by-side and it was allowing Patrick to get back into
the fray. It was a three-car race with 10 laps remaining.
Kanaan was trying the high side, but he couldn't make it stick. two laps to go
and he tried the high side again. They saw the white flag and it was still
Hornish Jr. leading Kanaan.
On the final lap, Kanaan would continue to press the outside line, but he just
didn't have enough speed to make the pass. Hornish Jr. took the checkered flag
by just 0.0786 seconds.
Patrick, Franchitti and Meira completed the top-five.
Franchitti remains the points leader, 12 ahead of Kanaan. Dixon (-19), Wheldon
(-20) and Hornish Jr. (-27) are all right in the middle of the championship
battle.
The next race in the series is set for Sunday, June 24th at the new Iowa
Speedway.