Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

Filed under: IRL, Indianapolis 500

In the second major IZOD IndyCar Series team announcement in the last week, de Ferran Dragon Racing named 2004 series champ Tony Kanaan to drive its No. 2 car for the 2011 season.

Kanaan, one of the most popular drivers in the series (shown above with his three-year-old son, Leonardo), parted ways with Andretti Autosport at the end of the season when his car's primary sponsor, 7-Eleven, withdrew its funding of the car.

The new job unites Kanaan, 35, with fellow Brazilian and longtime friend, team co-owner Gil de Ferran, a two-time former CART champion and the 2003 Indy 500 winner. Legendary owner Roger Penske's son, Jay Penske, and Steve Luczo are also owners of the three-year-old team, which is still looking for its first IndyCar victory.

"We are still young and developing and Tony is a big addition,'' said de Ferran, who joined Kanaan in their native Brazil for the announcement on Monday. "I have no doubt he will bring speed and determination but he'll also help us shortcut a lot of the development process.

"This news certainly clarifies that we are serious in our intention to become a major force in series.''

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

Filed under: IRL

This time, Helio Castroneves was all hugs with IndyCar's security director Charles Burns.

Castroneves won Saturday night's Kentucky Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway after his Penske team made a shrewd call for an extra pit stop during the race's second and final caution period. Just weeks ago, of course, Castroneves was violently shaking Burns after being denied of a win thanks to a last-lap penalty in Edmonton.

"You shouldn't actually interview me, you should interview (Tim Cindric)," Castroneves beamed after the race, crediting the winning call on fuel to Cindric, his race strategist. "It was kind of like rolling the dice, but this guy, he's kind of like the gambler."

Castroneves celebrated with his traditional frontstretch fence climb, and when he returned to the track gave Burns a hug as he walked back to his car.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

Filed under: IRL, Danica Patrick

NEWTON, Iowa (AP) -- Tony Kanaan overtook Helio Castroneves with 10 laps left and held on to win the Iowa 250 Sunday.

It was the first win since 2008 for Kanaan, who last took the checkered flag in Richmond two years ago. Kanaan had crashed in each of his first three starts at Iowa, but he zipped past Castroneves on lap 240 and cruised to victory by over four seconds.

"I've had three years to think about why I didn't finish. When I came here people kept reminding me of that," said Kanaan, who led for 62 laps. "I never finished, and then I finished. I finished first, so know we have a different story."

Castroneves finished second and E.J. Viso was a career-best third. Penske teammates Ryan Briscoe and pole winner Will Power rounded out the top five.

Danica Patrick finished 10th. Dario Franchitti, a two-time winner in Iowa, had mechanical issues with 50 laps left and finished 18th.

Kanaan started the race 15th, but he moved up quickly and took the lead about halfway through the race. Franchitti took the lead away from Kanaan with a quick pit stop 70 laps from the finish, but his quest for a third win in three starts at Iowa fell apart soon thereafter.

Castroneves moved past Franchitti for the lead, and Franchitti soon went back to pit row when his gear box got stuck. That left the race up to Kanaan and Franchitti, and Kanaan easily moved past Castroneves to pick up his 14th career IndyCar Series win.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

Filed under: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IRL, Indianapolis 500

INDIANAPOLIS -- In the end, Dario didn't run out of gas, a bunch of his competitors nearly did, and Ashley couldn't stay in her shoes.

Everything else surrounding the 94th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday prior to the final couple of laps was a blur -- sort of like Dario Franchitti's No. 10 car for most of the steamy afternoon.

This was fun. This also was scary.

With one lap remaining and his car threatening to gasp any moment courtesy of a sprinkling of gas left in his tank, Franchitti's likeness on the Borg-Warner Trophy was guaranteed for a second time in four Indy races after a crash in the north chute. It was a brutal one, but it wasn't fatal. It featured Mike Conway suffering just a leg injury despite his sparking, flipping and exploding ride flying high before slamming into the fence.

So this mostly was vintage Indy -- as in drama.

As in, it's about time.

---

---

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

Filed under: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis 500

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Tony Kanaan overcame a second crash to qualify for this year's Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.

The former IndyCar Series champion made it onto the starting grid, posting a four-lap average of 224.072 mph with 30 minutes left in qualifying. That was good enough to bump rookie Sebastian Saavedra out of the 33-car starting field.

Kanaan will start 32nd.

It's the first time the Brazilian will start outside the first two rows in eight Indy starts, but after a dreadful weekend for Andretti Autosport, they'll take it.

From Kanaan's crashes to Danica Patrick's contentious comments, the Andretti Curse was back in full force at Indy -- right up until the final moments when Kanaan managed to stay off the Bump Day bubble.

Saturday's pole-day qualifying started with a run Marco Andretti described as "pathetic," and yet the 23-year-old had the best starting position of anyone on his dad's five-car team. Marco will start 16th, the inside of Row 6.

Kanaan and Patrick had even worse weekends.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

Scott Dixon ran away with the IndyCar series race at Kansas Speedway Saturday, leading more than three-fourths of the race on his way to an easy 30-car length victory over his teammate, Dario Franchitti.

On the clock, Dixon's margin of victory was a comfy 3.05 seconds, and he jumped ahead to that lead even after a restart with less than 10 laps to go.

Dixon led 167 laps, including the final 150 circuits, and easily survived a couple of late-race restarts to win his first race of 2010 and his second straight at Kansas.

Series defending champion Dario Franchitti was second after holding off a late charge from Tony Kanaan. Helio Castroneves was fourth, followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Pole winner Ryan Briscoe, who led 31 early laps, was sixth, the final driver on the lead lap. Franchitti was the only other driver to lead any laps; he was in front for two circuits.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

Filed under: IRL, Danica Patrick

The joke goes -- in several variations -- that if former Professional Bull Riders CEO Randy Bernard can hang on more than 8-seconds in his new job as CEO of theIZOD IndyCar Series, he will have some serious potential.

He grabbed the IndyCar reins officially March 1 and gets his first true ride this weekend as the series opens Sunday in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Loaded with Brazilian drivers, sponsored by many Brazilian companies in a country that adores auto racing, it's fair to say the IndyCar series will get a larger and warmer reception in Sao Paulo this weekend than at many other stops on its expanded 17-race schedule.

And that goes to the heart of Bernard's greatest and most pressing challenge: Promotion! Promotion! Promotion!

Now unified as the country's premier open-wheel circuit, the IZOD IndyCar Series has exciting racing, close finishes and the top championship dramas of any major racing series.

But it's the best racing show people aren't watching enough of.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

Filed under: Mark Martin, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Hendrick Motorsports

A revitalized and resurging Mark Martin won the back-pats and gotta-luv-it grins of NASCAR nation with his incredible five-win, championship runner-up effort in the 2009 season.

And he enters Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway ranked third in the Sprint Cup championship, looking every bit the contender at age 51 that he was at age 50. And age 40 and age 30, for that matter.

He won the pole position for the season-opening Daytona 500 and has two top-five finishes in the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet through the first three races, proving he's still competitive on the race track even as his contemporaries have moved into the broadcast booth.

This isn't a trek into the tired, age ol' debate of whether NASCAR drivers are athletes. It's an acknowledgment that Martin is and that others in NASCAR may be finally catching on.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

by FanHouse Newswire

Filed under: IRL

NEWTON, Iowa (AP) -- Dario Franchitti has won the Iowa Corn Indy 250 to earn his second victory in two trips to Iowa Speedway.

Franchitti took the lead with 50 laps to go on Sunday and beat Ryan Briscoe by just over five seconds to take his first checkered flag since the Streets of Long Beach in April.

Dario Franchitti Wins Iowa Corn Indy 250 originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments