Super Dario
Dario Franchitti hung around the lead as car after car ran into trouble on the Iowa Speedway’s new short oval. He made a daring move to grab the top spot as soon as he saw an opening, then kept it by using his head.
Franchitti, the IndyCar Series points leader, survived a slippery track and a furious late charge from teammate Marco Andretti to win the inaugural Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Newton, Iowa, on Sunday.
Franchitti, whose other victory in 2007 came at the Indy 500, held the cherished bottom line on the final laps to win by 0.0681 seconds. The victory helped Franchitti open a 51-point lead over Tony Kanaan in the overall standings.
“I knew if I stopped at the yellow line, Marco was going to have a hard time getting around me,” Franchitti said. “He was very smart.”
Scott Sharp was third, followed by Buddy Rice and Darren Manning. Eight of the top 10 drivers in the points standings, including Kanaan and Sam Hornish Jr., were either involved in crashes or had mechanical trouble through the first 100 laps.
Unseasonably cool weather left the drivers with cold tires coming out of pit stops. That led to three accidents that knocked out seven cars on the 0.875-mile track, which ran fast and offered very little room to maneuver.
Franchitti went high up the steep banking to pass Rice on lap 151 and take the lead. He was quickly joined by Andretti, and the pair took a sizable edge over the rest of the field. Franchitti made his final pit stop with 35 laps to go, refusing to take new tires and opting for fuel only.
That decision proved critical in the final laps. Franchitti opened his lead to more than 5 seconds shortly after pitting, but a caution flag allowed Andretti to close the gap.
“We took a bit of a gamble there at the end to extend our lead and it worked for us,” Franchitti said. “We didn’t need that last yellow, though the car was fantastic all day.”
Champ Car World Series
Paul Tracy pushed his way to the front and held off rookie Robert Doornbos on the final lap to win his third Grand Prix of Cleveland, ending Sebastien Bourdais’ three-race winning streak.
Tracy was involved in two accidents early in the race, but the gutsy Canadian worked his way through the field and took the checkered flag, finishing .513 seconds ahead of Doornbos and another rookie, Neel Jani, who was 5.405 seconds back in third.
The victory ended a 23-race winless streak for Tracy, whose last win came at Cleveland in 2005.
NHRA
At Englishtown, N.J., Larry Dixon beat Doug Herbert at the ProCare Rx NHRA SuperNationals to get his 40th Top Fuel title, breaking a tie with Kenny Bernstein for sole possession of second place on the career list.
Tommy Johnson Jr. won the Funny Car event, giving team owner Don Prudhomme two wins on the day. Also, Greg Anderson won the Pro Stock race, tying him with Prudhomme for sixth place with 49 wins, and Craig Treble took the Pro Stock Motorcycle event.