Hornish leads again
Sam Hornish Jr. reclaimed the Indy Racing League points lead on Sunday, passing Scott Dixon with four laps to go to win the Meijer Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky.
The win was Hornish’s fourth of the year and the eighth by Team Penske this season. His second career victory at Kentucky helped him get back the points lead from teammate Helio Castroneves, who finished third behind Hornish and Scott Dixon.
Hornish now leads Castroneves by seven points heading into the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma in two weeks. He gave up the lead to Castroneves at Michigan on July 30, when a broken water pump sent him to a season-worst 19th-place finish.
The potential duel between Danica Patrick and Sarah Fisher never developed, despite the two becoming the first women drivers to start alongside each other in an IRL race.
Though they began the day side-by-side on row six, Patrick – who collided with Vitor Meira during practice before the race – ran in the top half of the field most of the day before finishing eighth.
Fisher, making her first IRL start since the 2004 Indy 500, needed a late surge to finish 12th, a lap behind the leaders.
Dan Wheldon could have temporarily stopped Penske’s dominance at the top of the series if not for a poor pit stop with less than 15 laps to go.
Wheldon led 66 laps and managed to hold off several charges from Hornish and Castroneves, but overshot his pit by a few feet on lap 186, costing himself precious seconds as his crew frantically pushed him back into position. He finished fourth.
Despite a course-record 23 lead changes, the race played out like much of the season has for Team Penske, with Castroneves and Hornish pushing the pace and Dan Wheldon and Dixon taking turns trying to split the duo up.
A close finish seemed likely following a caution on lap 192 after defending champion Scott Sharp spun out leaving the pits, but Hornish passed Dixon shortly after the restart and pulled away for his 18th career IRL win.
Champ Car World Series
A.J. Allmendinger made his fourth Champ Car World Series victory of the season look easy at the Grand Prix of Denver, and his Forsythe Championship Racing teammate, Paul Tracy, ticked off another driver.
Allmendinger took the lead on lap 47 and pulled away from the field. Allmendinger moved into second place in the points race behind Sebastien Bourdais. Justin Wilson, who finished eighth, is third in points.
Allmendinger’s average speed of 91.852 was a new track record.
NHRA
Brandon Bernstein upset three-time series champion Tony Schumacher in the Top Fuel final of the $1.6 million Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, Minn., for his third victory of the season.
Schumacher, who competed in his fifth straight final round, beat Top Fuel points leader Doug Kalitta in the second round.
Tommy Johnson Jr. (Funny Car), Dave Connolly (Pro Stock) and Antron Brown (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won their divisions.