Scheckter holds off Hornish in Texas
Danica Patrick looked like just another rookie Saturday night, struggling to a 13th-place finish as Tomas Scheckter held off Sam Hornish Jr. to win the Indy Racing League event at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
“Danica Mania,” in full bloom since Patrick finished fourth in the Indianapolis 500, took a night off as the 23-year-old racer, the only woman in the 22-car field, quickly slipped back into the pack after starting third.
After leading in each of her last two races and coming close to winning at Indy, Patrick was never a factor in the Bombardier Learjet 500. Instead, she gave up the spotlight to a pack of IRL veterans who put on another in a series of great side-by-side racing shows on the 1 1/2 -mile Texas oval.
The battle at the end came down to Scheckter, who started from the pole for the third time in six races here, and two-time series champion Hornish, with Scheckter, the son of former Formula One champion Jody Scheckter, winning by 0.534 seconds, less than a car-length. It was the 10th-closest finish in IRL history.
Scheckter, who had led more laps here than any other non-winner and never finished above 15th, threw his hands in the air in celebration as the crowd of about 100,000 cheered. It was the first victory for a Chevrolet-powered car since Hornish won the season-finale at Fontana, Calif., in 2003.
Formula One
Jenson Button watched and waited, certain that he would be bumped off the pole for the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. When the final car failed to knock him out of the top position, he celebrated as if he had just won the race.
“This is only qualifying, and I know that,” Button said. “But we’ve had a tough few months, a tough year, and this means a lot to be closer to the front again.”
Button, in a BAR-Honda, had a time of 1 minute, 15.217 seconds around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to earn his first pole of the season. The only previous pole of Button’s career came last year in the San Marino Grand Prix.
This was the strongest showing yet for Button, who was part of a two-race BAR-Honda suspension after it was determined that Button’s car ran underweight in the San Marino Grand Prix. Button finished third in that race, but was stripped of his position afterward.
He returned to racing in the European Grand Prix last month, qualifying 13th and finishing 10th. Teammate Takuma Sato also struggled in his return, finishing 12th.
Button will probably struggle to score a win today. Lurking all around him on the starting grid are Michael Schumacher, a seven-time winner of this race, and world championship points leader Fernando Alonso.
Schumacher, who has won this race the past three seasons, qualified second in a Ferrari with a lap at 1:15.475. Alonso, winner of four of the first seven races this season, qualified third.
Busch Series
The NASCAR Busch Series’ Federated Auto Parts 300 was postponed because of rain at Nashville Superspeedway in Gladeville, Tenn., with series officials rescheduling the race for today at 10 a.m. PDT.
With qualifying also rained out, the field of 43 will line up according to points, placing series leader Carl Edwards on the pole.