Mon Aug 6 00:26:09 2007

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Kanaan holds off Andretti for win

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Brooklyn, MI (Sports Network) - Tony Kanaan fought off four passing attempts from his Andretti Green Racing teammate Marco Andretti and captured Sunday's Firestone Indy 400 IndyCar race at the Michigan International Speedway. The No.11 AGR Honda driver crossed the finish line 0.0595 seconds ahead of Andretti.

The victory was Kanaan's third of the season and 10th of his IndyCar career.

"It was a crazy race," said Kanaan. "We did what we were supposed to do. I feel sorry for Dario (Franchitti), but at least (Scott) Dixon went (out of the race) with him."

After four hours of rain delay, the race finally got started with Franchitti leading the field to the green flag. But Sam Hornish Jr. didn't let him get away and immediately they were side-by-side through the first few turns.

Franchitti fought off Hornish Jr. and settled down to the job at hand. He built about a half-second lead on Hornish Jr. and Hornish Jr.'s Penske Racing teammate Helio Castroneves.

The two Penske teammates got together and closed on Franchitti who was reporting a bit of a handling problem.

After Milka Duno brought out a caution flag, the field pitted for fuel and tires. But it was a disaster for Franchitti who stalled his car by the time they could get the engine restarted he had fallen to 18th place.

Dixon was the beneficiary of the mistake inheriting the lead. The racing was tight and unfortunately for Castroneves, he and Vitor Meira collided to bring out a caution flag and end the day for both drivers.

Franchitti had been flying since his pit road error and by the time the smoke cleared and everyone had pitted after the accident he was magically on top of the charts again.

The race lead was traded between Franchitti, Tomas Scheckter and Dan Wheldon as the field passed the 125-lap mark. But you could throw a blanket on the almost everyone as 11 cars were within one second of Franchitti.

The drivers were riding around two and three-wide with no margin for error as Franchitti and Wheldon drove side-by-side for lap after lap. Scheckter, who won this race in 2002, was right behind them trying to find a way around both leaders.

On lap 142 Franchitti and Wheldon were fighting for the lead when their wheels touched sending Franchitti airborne down the backstretch. They collected Scheckter, Dixon, Ed Carpenter, A.J. Foyt IV and Hornish Jr. in the aftermath.

It appeared that all drivers survived without serious injury.

"I don't know what happened," said Franchitti. "I was asking the guys and they said he came up a little bit and I came down a little bit. We are running so close.

"We touched and the next thing know I'm upside down and I open my eyes and I'm going backwards about 30 feet in the air."

Just eight cars remained running, including Foyt IV, who only suffered minor damage and was able to return to racing.

The track stayed under yellow until lap 170 which meant that the drivers were able to reach the checkered flag without stopping again.

Scott Sharp took the restart as the leader, but the remaining cars were all packed tightly. Down the backstretch Andretti took the lead, but he was penalized for jumping the start. He gave the positions back that he had gained and continued on.

Kanaan led an AGR attack that left them in the top three spots with 20 laps to go. Andretti was second and Danica Patrick was third.

They got orders to stay in line until 10 laps to go and then they could race for the win. But Patrick suffered a right-rear tire failure and it was Kanaan and Andretti leading the way. Sharp moved into third.

Ten laps to go and Andretti went to the high side, but he couldn't make the pass and ducked back into line.

Andretti tried the outside again with six laps, but Kanaan held him off. They were side-by-side with three laps to go. Andretti got a couple of feet ahead, but not enough to complete the pass.

White flag and Kanaan still held to the bottom of the track. Andretti made one final attempt, but Kanaan wouldn't budge and he was able to take the win by just 0.0595 seconds.

Sharp. Kosuke Matsuura and Buddy Rice completed the top-five.

The next race is scheduled for Saturday night at the Kentucky Speedway.