Helio’s strategy pays off
Helio Castroneves’ strategies were all about preservation: First the fuel and then the lead.
At Birmingham, Ala., Castroneves deftly managed both tasks and held off Scott Dixon to win the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on Sunday, coasting to the finish line after coming off caution with two laps to go.
The three-time Indianapolis 500 winner took over in the stretch run when Marco Andretti headed to pit road with seven laps to go.
“I felt like I had a better car than Marco but unfortunately, I just couldn’t pass him,” Castroneves said. “And I was just patient and waiting for an opportunity. I guess we were able to be smart enough to save a lot of fuel.”
Castroneves then treated the new IndyCar venue to his “Spiderman” move, climbing a chain link fence in front of the grandstands and pumping his fists to the fans. He had to scout for a suitable fence to scale before the race after a fan asked him in his hotel elevator Sunday where he’d do his trademark move.
“Until that point, I didn’t have anything in mind,” he said.
He won by just over half a second over Dixon and nobody else was closer than 7 seconds to the lead, making it a two-man chase at the end. He didn’t offer any opening for Dixon to get by him on a narrow track that offers few easy spots to pass and makes fuel strategy as important as any daring on-track maneuvers.
“The only thing you can do is try to push the guy as hard in front of you to make him keep looking in his mirrors and overshoot a corner and make a mistake,” Dixon said.
Dario Franchitti was third. Will Power had won the first two races and was dominant in qualifying and practice but had to settle for fourth, still comfortably hanging onto his points lead.
Spectators lined the trackside hills for the first IndyCar event in a state long dominated by NASCAR races at Talladega about 20 minutes down Interstate 20.
NHRA
Larry Dixon raced to his second victory of the season and 50th overall, beating Antron Brown in the Top Fuel final in the O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Texas.
Matt Hagan (Funny Car), Jeg Coughlin (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event.
Dixon had a 4.541-second pass at 222.36 mph to Brown’s 4.638 at 173.32 to move into eighth place on the career victory list, breaking a tie with Don “The Snake” Prudhomme.