Danica finishes 5th at Richmond because of bad timing
If tonight's race wasn't cold hard proof that the Indy Racing League Indycar Series needs to start using NASCAR's recent new rules with double-file restarts and especially moving all the lapped cars to the back of the pack, I don't know what is.
Danica Patrick finished 5th tonight at the Suntrust Indy Challenge at Richmond. That's good and all, but if two wrecks had happened later in the race than they did(Mike Conway's wreck at Lap 136, Helio Castroneves' wreck before Lap 250), Danica probably finishes 2nd or even wins the race.
Instead, the two Target Chip Ganassi cars of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti and the Newman/Haas/Lanigan car of Graham Rahal benefit since they got to pit under caution rather than under green like the rest of the field and they stayed in the top three after Danica and teammate Hideki Mutoh(he led 74 laps starting at Lap 30 after everybody except him and Danica came in to the pits after Ryan Briscoe's wreck on Lap 28) came in to the laps around Laps 105 to 113. And as a result of Franchitti having to stop for a splash of fuel while pit lane was still closed(Indycar rules allow a driver to stop for fuel only while the pits are closed, but that car must stop again when race officials open the pits), Dixon won the race with Franchitti 2nd, followed by Rahal(best finish on an oval track for him), Mutoh, and Danica.
With tonight's win, Scott Dixon tied Sam Hornish Jr. for the most victories in the IRL Indycar Series(19).
Danica stays 5th in points, now 60 points back of new points leader Franchitti(who's 1 point ahead of Dixon), but is now just 6 behind Castroneves(17th) for 4th.
But, as a fan, it's aggravating and annoying when the same two teams(Target Chip Ganassi and Team Penske) win all the races. At least NASCAR will force parity(especially with four carmakers in NASCAR; in Indy, it's just Honda) and make the races more exciting, because there's hardly any passing in Indycar, and it's not just on the road courses, it's on the short tracks like Nashville and Richmond.
While they did say during the race that they might be adding ChampCar's Push2Pass deal sometime this season, but it's not going to be enough. Indycar needs to add three rules from NASCAR to make the races more exciting: Double-file restarts, All the lapped cars go to the back of the pack for the restarts, and add the "Free Pass" rule where the first car that's a lap down gets their lap back and is waved around the pace car.
Sorry for the length of the post, but I needed to rant a little there.
In other news, the New Orleans Hornets traded their 2nd round picks in 2010 and 2012 to the Miami Heat for the draft rights to Marcus Thornton.
Danica Patrick finished 5th tonight at the Suntrust Indy Challenge at Richmond. That's good and all, but if two wrecks had happened later in the race than they did(Mike Conway's wreck at Lap 136, Helio Castroneves' wreck before Lap 250), Danica probably finishes 2nd or even wins the race.
Instead, the two Target Chip Ganassi cars of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti and the Newman/Haas/Lanigan car of Graham Rahal benefit since they got to pit under caution rather than under green like the rest of the field and they stayed in the top three after Danica and teammate Hideki Mutoh(he led 74 laps starting at Lap 30 after everybody except him and Danica came in to the pits after Ryan Briscoe's wreck on Lap 28) came in to the laps around Laps 105 to 113. And as a result of Franchitti having to stop for a splash of fuel while pit lane was still closed(Indycar rules allow a driver to stop for fuel only while the pits are closed, but that car must stop again when race officials open the pits), Dixon won the race with Franchitti 2nd, followed by Rahal(best finish on an oval track for him), Mutoh, and Danica.
With tonight's win, Scott Dixon tied Sam Hornish Jr. for the most victories in the IRL Indycar Series(19).
Danica stays 5th in points, now 60 points back of new points leader Franchitti(who's 1 point ahead of Dixon), but is now just 6 behind Castroneves(17th) for 4th.
But, as a fan, it's aggravating and annoying when the same two teams(Target Chip Ganassi and Team Penske) win all the races. At least NASCAR will force parity(especially with four carmakers in NASCAR; in Indy, it's just Honda) and make the races more exciting, because there's hardly any passing in Indycar, and it's not just on the road courses, it's on the short tracks like Nashville and Richmond.
While they did say during the race that they might be adding ChampCar's Push2Pass deal sometime this season, but it's not going to be enough. Indycar needs to add three rules from NASCAR to make the races more exciting: Double-file restarts, All the lapped cars go to the back of the pack for the restarts, and add the "Free Pass" rule where the first car that's a lap down gets their lap back and is waved around the pace car.
Sorry for the length of the post, but I needed to rant a little there.
In other news, the New Orleans Hornets traded their 2nd round picks in 2010 and 2012 to the Miami Heat for the draft rights to Marcus Thornton.