MOORESVILLE, N.C. — After finishing second to Danica Patrick Sunday at Twin Ring Motegi, Helio Castroneves tried to explain his fuel strategy that nearly worked.
“The car was really good in the beginning, and then we started picking up a vibration,” Castroneves said. “It looks like we pitted a little bit long. We were having problems in the pits. I’m disappointed with that. With five laps to go, I was saving fuel. When Danica passed me, I realized she was the leader. She did a great job, passed me fair and square and that shows you how competitive our series is.”

• Scott Dixon was a major contender for the victory before he had to pit late in the race and settle for third.
“It’s just one of those races where anything you tried, you didn’t know exactly what to do,” Dixon said. “You had people in the back who were pitting and taking fuel under yellows. If we had had a yellow, we would have been stuck back there. But it worked out perfectly for the guys who made it a fuel race. Really frustrating because we had the car to beat, but I guess that’s the way it goes.”

• Dixon’s Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dan Wheldon finished fourth.
“It became a fuel mileage race, and we had a really good car,” Dixon said. “To be quite honest, we have some work to do on our pit stops. It was a good day for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, but not what we wanted.”

• Before Patrick and her family “weeped for joy” following her historic victory, the dreaded weepers made an appearance on Saturday, forcing the race to be postponed for a day.
Hideki Mutoh addressed the fans at Twin Ring Motegi, thanking them for their patience and inviting them to return the next morning for the Indy Japan 300.
The weepers — water emanating through the asphalt surface from the soaked ground underneath — were created by about 2.3 inches of rain that fell at the track over the previous 30 hours. Rain stopped early in the morning, and track workers with Delphi Safety Team personnel worked for more than seven hours in an attempt to stem the flow from multiple locations.
Brian Barnhart, president of the competition and operations divisions of the sanctioning Indy Racing League, and the race’s chief steward, twice consulted drivers regarding the safety of the racing surface before asking Mutoh and Roger Yasukawa to address the crowd.
“We never got a situation where the race track was presentable and safe to race on,” Barnhart said. “The drivers would not have been comfortable and been in a position to where we could have done anything today. We had about three spots we were working on: the acceleration lane coming out of the pits in turn two, the deceleration lane going into the pits in (turn) three and then a large section of the race track in turn four.”
Track officials continued to work on the affected areas throughout the afternoon and into the evening, sucking water out of holes drilled into the asphalt to relieve pressure.
The only previous postponement in Twin Ring Motegi’s 10-year history took place in 2000, when showers forced the race to run on Sunday, an event won by Michael Andretti.

• Growing up, there was no race driver Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves looked up to more than Formula One champion Ayrton Senna. The two IndyCar Series drivers and the late Brazilian champion are now linked as part of a display in the Honda Collection Hall at Twin Ring Motegi, which includes helmets, firesuits and photos of the drivers and race cars driven by Senna and Kanaan.
Castroneves and Kanaan each got an opportunity to sit in the McLaren MP4/5 chassis that Senna drove in 1989.
“Senna was my hero. It meant a lot to me (to be included),” Kanaan said. “A lot of people don’t realize how much of a hero he was to us Brazilians. I’d have to say he was my ultimate hero and the guy I always looked for when I was growing up. It was a very emotional time, and I was very honored to be associated with him.
“I was going back in time thinking about how well he did and how well he fit in the car and how good he was. It was a very emotional moment.”

• Panther crew chief Dan Miller did not make the trip to Japan because of a herniated disc in his lower back. Miller, a three-year veteran of the team, relinquished his duties as an outside front-tire changer.
To compensate, Panther moved Doug Barnes to outside front-tire changer and Paul Sheehan, who changed a tire on Kosuke Matsuura’s No. 55 entry last season, will return to over-the-wall duties on the inside front tire for Vitor Meira. Miller is expected to return in time for next weekend’s race at Kansas Speedway.

• Tomas Scheckter saw his first track action of the year April 22 during a refresher day at Kansas Speedway in the Luczo Dragon Racing car. He’s entered in the RoadRunner Turbo Indy 300 at the 1.5-mile oval next weekend. Scheckter, who competed for Vision Racing the past two seasons, will compete in three events (at Kansas, Indianapolis and Infineon) for the Luczo Dragon Racing team co-owned by Jay Penske and Steve Luczo. John Cummiskey is the team manager and Ray Leto of Sam Schmidt Motorsports is the race engineer.

• Ed Carpenter finished sixth for his second top-10 finish in three races. His chances at finishing higher were damaged when he had contact with his Vision Racing teammate, A.J. Foyt IV, in pit lane during a pit stop.
“Unfortunately, we could have had a better result as I was able to run with the leaders when this race got going, but that contact we had with A.J. (Foyt IV) in the pits just cost us and we had to fight our way back up through the field after that,” Carpenter said. “We had a good car today so it’s just a shame that we got in our own way there early on.”