Scott Dixon again proved he is the uncrowned road course champion of the Indy Racing League Sunday at Infineon Raceway in the Motorola Indy 300 and also moved himself four points into the series championship lead over Dario Franchitti. An event-free race unfolded pretty much as planned until lap 69 of the 80 lap contest when the first caution of the field was raised due to contact between race leader Franchitti and teammate Marco Andretti. The young Andretti had just entered the field after leaving the pits when Franchitti came upon him in turn two, pushing Andretti out of the race into the dirt and rendering his own car not worthy of a finish in a position he had held for most of the day.
A difficult day for team owner Michael Andretti, who is the son of race legend Mario Andretti and father of Marco, who would like to see his own son achieve success in the circuit but would also like Franchitti to win a IRL title for his Andretti-Green racing team.
Franchitti, who started first in front of Danica Patrick, had no problem keeping the sweetheart of the IRL in the rear view mirror and held the position until the contact in lap 69. On the lap 72 restart, Dixon and Helio Castroneves easily passed Franchitti and held off the points leader for the rest of the contest. Patrick also had a contending car but long pit stops and even stalling the car in the pits on lap 63 led to her sixth place finish. The day was not all bad for Patrick as the position moved her up one in the points standings to seventh place.
The IRL series moves to Michigan next week for the 16th of 17 races and will finish the season at Chicagoland Speedway on September 9.
