The replica fillin' station pump certainly will be a conversation-starter in Dario Franchitti's trophy room, joining the hand-painted guitar from Nashville Superspeedway and - of course - the "Baby Borg" he'll receive for winning the 91st Indianapolis 500. source: indycar.com / Dave Lewandowski Franchitti added to his collection by holding off Andretti Green Racing teammate Marco Andretti by 0.0681 of a second (17th-closest in IndyCar Series history) to win the inaugural Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by ethanol at Iowa Speedway. Franchitti, who has placed in the top 10 in all eight races and the top five in seven, increased his lead in the standings to 51 over another teammate, Tony Kanaan, as the IndyCar Series season approaches its halfway point. Scott Sharp finished third, Buddy Rice was fourth and Darren Manning fifth - all season highs. "I said to Dario, this is just what he needed for points," said Andretti, who advanced 10 positions and was running at the finish for the first time this season on an oval. "He said, this is just what I needed, too. He's completely right. I just needed to finish. I'm happy to be second, of course. But no confidence lost here, for sure. It was a long day, though, very physical." The overflow crowd was treated to the high-speed excitement on the 0.894-mile oval extensively promoted by the speedway and state media. The off-shoot was multiple crashes involving multiple cars. Seven of the 19 starters were retired because of contact with each other or the SAFER Barrier, including five of the top 10 in the standings entering the race (Danica Patrick, Sam Hornish Jr., Jeff Simmons, Tomas Scheckter and Kanaan). "You can see how many risks people took on restarts because it was one of the few opportunities you're going to get to overtake, and you can see what happens with that extra risk," said Manning, who gave A.J. Foyt Racing its best finish in a year. The short track that presented itself as a speedway puts a premium on passing so track position was imperative - as Andretti discovered in attempting to overtake Franchitti over the final 18-lap battle between mentor and pupil. He was never more than a tenth of a second behind, but couldn't get a run. "At the end it came down to the two of us, and I just had nothing for Dario," Andretti said. "I was driving his setup. The guy is unbelievable at setting up a car. I've got to thank him for that. When you're driving the same car, it's hard to go a longer distance and I had nothing for him so I just wanted to protect him and great day for Andretti Green." Franchitti's day didn't start well because of his stray dog ( "We found her this morning having a good time"), but his second trip to Victory Circle made ammends.
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