Dan Wheldon found running out front was the place to be in Sunday's Toyota
Indy 300, the 2005 IRL IndyCar Series opener
source:
racingone.com
Leading 157 of the 200 laps ahead of a very competitive field, Wheldon avoided a
melee on a restart that eliminated eight cars, and then went on to hold off a
three-wide finish for second position to score his fourth career IndyCar Series
victory.
Defending Homestead winner Sam Hornish Jr. - the meat in the sandwich - nipped
defending IRL champ Tony Kanaan by inches to take the runnerup slot, 3.69
seconds behind Wheldon. Vitor Meira's bid on the outside came up a half-car
length shy to finish fourth.
"It's nice to start off the season like this, but we've got to keep doing this,"
Wheldon said. "The Penske cars were hot on our heels today. This is only one
race into the championship - we've got 16 to go."
"It was a great finish," said Hornish. "Too bad it was for second."
A fuel spill in the A.J. Foyt IV pits -- moments after the leaders made their
final green flag pit stops - set up what appeared to be a 42-lap sprint to the
finish.
Instead, Kosuke Matsuura lost control when he went to the outside in a
three-wide battle for sixth position entering turn two. Matsuura brushed Tomas
Scheckter, and pandemonium broke loose, eliminating both cars in addition to
those driver by Bryan Herta, Scott Dixon, Danica Patrick, Scott Sharp, Roger
Yasukawa and Ed Carpenter.