The sun was shining on Red Bull Cheever Racing today during the Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix at Infineon Raceway. source: redbullcheeverracing.com Alex Barron: #51 Red Bull/Dallara/Toyota/Firestone Patrick Carpentier: #83 Red Bull/Dallara/Toyota/Firestone The team endured the difficult, 12-turn, 2.26-mile road course and turned in third and fourth place finishes. The race started with Alex Barron in the #51 car in 10th position and Patrick Carpentier in the #83 car in 12th. The two held these positions for 17 laps until a caution brought the pair into the pits to begin the fuel strategy game that the team knew would be very important coming into the race. Barron's crew guessed right and only had to make two stops during the race, which enabled him to bring his car home in third. This is his best finish of the season and his sixth top 10. "It was excellent. We had a great car all weekend. The crew made a change to the Red Bull Toyota on the second stop. We went back out and the car was solid. We were able to hang on to third. We didn't have quite enough to make a run on the leaders. I could catch Buddy (Rice) and sustain it, but I wasn't able to be offensive. We are really happy with the podium. This is positive for the team and we can build on it for our next race at Chicago," Barron said. Carpentier's crew employed a different fuel strategy, which had them return to the pit on lap 23 to top off fuel on the last lap during the caution period. Despite making one more stop than Barron, he was on his teammates tail from lap 53 through the end of the race. He accomplished this despite having his in-car water bottle stop working early in the race. At one point, he came on the radio and commented, "I have a headache. I'm so dehydrated." Despite the obstacle, he pulled off a solid fourth-place finish. This is ninth top 10 on the season, and his third top five in the last eight races. By running the entire race, Carpentier once again retains his IndyCar Series lead in laps completed.
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