Two-Fingered Salute Highlights Chaotic IndyCar Race at Loudon

Sunday's MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 was full of action, drama, suspense, and controversy...and a couple of birds!

Chip Ganassi Racing dominated the practice sessions, including having all four racers in the top eight during the final practice session. Graham Rahal and IndyCar Series points leader Dario Franchitti were almost certain to occupy the first row. It looked to be a great weekend for the Ganassi Team.

Drama began early, in qualifying actually, when Rahal lost control and narrowly escaped hitting the wall. Although he avoided damage to the car, the true damage came in his qualifying time as he started 23rd. When the green flag waved to start the race, the damage intensified. Mike Conway lost control coming out of turn 2 and collected Rahal in the process. It was a cool day in New Hampshire with rain in the area, so getting heat into the tires was very difficult, and the result is a race favorite out before traveling a half of a mile.



Lots of great racing throughout the field ensued after the Conway spin and another similar one from Helio Castroneves, and lots of action on the one-mile oval as Franchitti lapped over half the field. However, after restarting on lap 118, as Franchitti crossed the start/finish line with Takuma Sato on his inside (Franchitti chose to restart on the outside), the two make contact and Franchitti is out of the race.

I'm still thoroughly confused on this one. Franchitti was furious after being knocked out and blamed Sato for the contact, when in the replay it seemed very obvious to me and to the commentators that Franchitti came down on Sato and initiated the contact. Even more confusing, Sato later took the blame for the incident. Even when Franchitti is wrong he's still somehow right.  Will Power, second in the points behind Franchitti, benefits most from the pole-sitter's DNF. He was down as many as 30 points on the day from Franchitti, but after the incident, he immediately switched that around to gaining 10 points on the series leader!

Now, the suspense and controversy. The race began nearly a half-hour early due to incoming inclement weather, and it also included a 31 lap caution period due to moisture. With just 19 laps left, the yellow flag waves again due to moisture. Race Control decides that, with now nine laps left, the track is dry enough to race. Boy were they wrong.

Leader Ryan Hunter-Reay is screaming over the radio that he can't put his foot on the gas. His owner Michael Andretti is pleading with IndyCar CEO Brian Barnhart not to go green. Will Power begged for the entire caution period for the same. According to Brian Barnhart, race control never heard from the drivers or the teams and only heard from the safety crew around the track, who say track is good enough for racing.

They go green, and they go sideways. Danica Patrick is the first to spin coming out of turn 4. Power tries to avoid and spins as a result, and at least three more cars, including Sato, end up sideways and are collected by this incident.


Andretti throws his arms in the air as one of his drivers (Patrick) loses positions after spinning and brushing the inside wall and Hunter-Reay is passed because he couldn't hit the throttle. Power is worst off, as he appears to drop to about 15th after the incident, eliminating any chance of gaining significant ground on Franchitti. As he walks back to the garage, Power gives a message to Barnhart and the rest of Race Control who allowed the race to go green.

In the end, Barnhart makes the right call. The red flag waved after the crash and Race Control discusses what happened. They end up ruling that the final restart, the one with Power, Patrick, and Sato all crashing, never happened. The restart was negated "because of Rule 1.1 (B) (4): INDYCAR also reserves the right to take whatever action and/or impose whatever penalty it deems necessary to maintain the integrity of INDYCAR, the IZOD IndyCar Series and/or its events" according to IndyCar.com.  Barnhart went to the commentating booth and said the same thing, that "he only right thing to do and the fair thing to do is to go to the running order before the restart."



I'm ecstatic that IndyCar got this one right. It was a disappointing end, as any rain-shortened race is, but it was the right call for the safety and integrity of the sport.



 Will Power would apologize afterward, not because the call he was so mad about was essentially revoked, but because he embarrassed the series and his team. He posted on his twitter page (@12WillPower) after the race:  

"First of all, I have to apologize for losing my temper after the accident that ended our race. Regardless of what...happened on the race track, my behavior was inexcusable and I apologize to our sponsors, the fans, the IZOD IndyCar Series officials...and the Penske Racing organization. I should not have behaved the way I did and I am sorry. It's definitely no excuse...but I was just very frustrated because our car ran so well and our team had worked so hard to put ourselves into a position to get a...good finish and I thought it was just ridiculous to restart the race under the dangerous conditions that existed on the race track...I am just glad the officials decided to make the decision to revert the finishing order back to what it was before the final restart...I want to thank my team for their hard work today and, again, I'm sorry for the way our race ended and how I handled the situation."

Power especially has had a rough season...a couple of different calls, pitting one lap earlier or later at a time, and even a different ruling in Toronto on what was "avoidable contact" and he could be leading the points standings right now. That being said, he gained 15 points on Franchitti yesterday and is now only 47 behind the defending champion. With five races (three street/road, two oval) remaining, this is shaping up to be one great finish in the IZOD IndyCar Series, one that nobody should miss!

Oh, and P.S., it kills me that SportsCenter tried to do a highlight reel of the race, of course included the Danica-Power-Sato incident, complained about IndyCar officiating and controversy, and never once mentioned that they made it as if the restart never happened. Just a bit annoying....