Kanaan Gets Fifth Victory Of 2007; Crash Puts Dario In First Place

DETROIT — A redemptive Tony Kanaan won Sunday’s Detroit Indy Grand Prix after the two leaders in the IndyCar points race took each other out on a crash in the final lap.
When second-place Buddy Rice ran out of fuel, he couldn’t get out of the way of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti, the two drivers running first and second in the IndyCar points race. Rice’s car ended up in a tire barrier as Dixon went by on what was the final lap of the “timed race” ending one lap short of the scheduled 90-lap distance.
Dixon lost control of his car and spun. Franchitti almost cleared Dixon before Dixon’s car drifted back in front of Franchitti’s, blocking his path on the course.
Amazingly, Franchitti was still able to get his car coasting enough to limp across the start/finish line in sixth place. Dixon was credited with eighth and lost the point lead.

PASS THE BUBBLY: Dan Wheldon helps race winner Tony Kanaan celebrate his 12th career IRL IndyCar Series victory Sunday at Belle Isle. (Shawn Payne/IRL IndyCar Photo)

Franchitti takes a slim three-point edge into the season finale at Chicagoland Speedway Sunday.
“We came here to take the championship lead away from Dixon and that’s what we did as a team,” said Franchitti’s teammate, race-winner Kanaan. “Now, let’s move on to Chicago.”
Kanaan defeated Danica Patrick in a race that finished under caution and confusion. It was the highest finish of Patrick’s career. Ironically, for a driver who gets so much attention, the best finish of her career is greatly overshadowed in this race.
“I’m happy that there are other storylines that are taking the lead,” Patrick said. “I’m just going to have to do that much better to be the lead story. We weren’t running up front all day today but we have our best result.”
It was Kanaan’s 12th-career victory, fifth of the season. Dan Wheldon was third, followed by Darren Manning and Kosuke Matsuura.
 Kanaan is 39 points out of the points lead in third and still eligible for the title after he led the final 20 laps of the race and won $131,000.
He took a shot at former four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears, who remains an official with Team Penske and criticized Kanaan last week for the “team tactics” that were used by Kanaan at Infineon Raceway.
“I’m back,” Kanaan said. “That’s for all the guys who bad-mouthed me last week. I’m going to dedicate this victory to Rick Mears.”
Later in the post-race press conference, Kanaan explained why he singled out the IndyCar racing hero with a backhanded verbal jab in victory lane.
“After all the criticism I was involved in last weekend, I always say to all the people that criticize me that all you do comes back to you, so I guess I didn’t do a bad thing,” Kanaan said. “I have a lot of respect for Rick Mears. As he said he lost a lot of respect for me, but I did not lose respect for him. I think he’s the greatest of all time. I always look for him and talk to him.
“You know me, I make jokes and I felt funny to dedicate the win for him. If Rick Mears the driver and the IRL official that he is came to talk to me, I might have respect for that. But when he comes to say something and he has a Team Penske shirt, I kind of wonder if he was mad because I didn’t let Sam Hornish (another Penske driver) by or something like that.”

THE POINT: Dario Franchitti finished sixth Sunday and retook the point lead by three points over Scott Dixon. (Bob Benko Photo)

Franchitti got three extra bonus points for leading the most laps in the race, twice for 27 laps. Pole winner Helio Castroneves led the first 26 laps of the race. That was just before a big crash entering the first turn involved pole-winner Castroneves and Scheckter, piling both cars into the tire barrier on lap 67.
Neither driver was injured but Castroneves was furious that he couldn’t get his car back into the race as he sat in his car, shaking his head.
Scheckter blamed Castroneves for running into him and the two were involved in a confrontation outside the medical center. Scheckter was pulled out of the care center, but Castroneves had a bumped knee.
“It’s disappointing because my car was faster than his and it’s disappointing why he didn’t let me by,” Castroneves said. “I asked why he let one guy by and not me by and he said that other guy was putting on pressure. It’s a racing incident and I’m disappointed for what happened.”
In the revival of the Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle for the first time since Castroneves won in 2001 when it was part of the CART schedule, it was a smashing success for track promoter Roger Penske and the city of Detroit.
It was a wild street race that included six cautions for 19 laps, five lead changes among five drivers, and hard feelings heading into the last race of the season at Chicagoland Speedway.