Indycar - Kansas

[DooberRoni]

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk279/DooberRoni/Indycar-Kansas-Post.png
© images & logos property of their respective owners - graphic composition © DooberVille.com

After the start of the season with two exciting street course rounds, Indycar heads to the first oval of the year to the great relief of many. Here's an update of the points race after Long Beach

1 . Dario Franchitti Total Points: 84 pts
2 . Will Power Total Points: 69 pts Points Behind:-15
3 . Ryan Briscoe Total Points: 67 pts Points Behind:-17
4 . Tony Kanaan Total Points: 65 pts Points Behind:-19
5 . Ryan Hunter-Reay Total Points: 59 pts Points Behind:-25
6 . Justin Wilson Total Points: 49 pts Points Behind:-35
7 . Dan Wheldon Total Points: 46 pts Points Behind:-38
8 . Marco Andretti Total Points: 45 pts Points Behind:-39
9 . Graham Rahal Total Points: 45 pts Points Behind:-39
10 . Danica Patrick Total Points: 44 pts Points Behind:-40
11 . Robert Doornbos Total Points: 41 pts Points Behind:-43
12 . Alex Tagliani Total Points: 40 pts Points Behind:-44
13 . Darren Manning Total Points: 38 pts Points Behind:-46
14 . Vitor Meira Total Points: 38 pts Points Behind:-46
15 . Raphael Matos Total Points: 36 pts Points Behind:-48
16 . Stanton Barrett Total Points: 31 pts Points Behind:-53
17 . Scott Dixon Total Points: 29 pts Points Behind:-55
18 . Hideki Mutoh Total Points: 27 pts Points Behind:-57
19 . Helio Castroneves Total Points: 26 pts Points Behind:-58
20 . E.J. Viso Total Points: 25 pts Points Behind:-59
21 . Ed Carpenter Total Points: 24 pts Points Behind:-60
22 . Mario Moraes Total Points: 24 pts Points Behind:-60
23 . Mike Conway Total Points: 24 pts Points Behind:-60

For a quick look at the summary from last year, we see Dan Wheldon at the head of the field. Patrick practiced well and qualified well for last year's race but finished out of the top 10.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk279/DooberRoni/kansas2008.jpg
event summary graphic courtesy of and © indycar.com (http://www.indycar.com)


FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, ROGER, PLEASE FIGURE OUT HOW TO KEEP POWER IN THE CAR

[ÜberDoober]

Well, it looks like no car for Will Power? That stinks.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/KansasEntries.jpg

It is nice to see Sarah Fisher! Won't this be Stanton Barrett's first oval race? Doubt his NASCAR experience will be much help. Also, with all the "Brazil" adverts on the VS show, you'd really think Milk and Donuts would have come up with some bucks for a ride. Hell, wasn't the Obamatron and Chavez shaking hands on TV the other day? Where's Citgo?

[Pablo]

Hey, thanks for the '08 stats, Roni & the '09 starting field, EK. Maybe now I'll know who's doin' what.

[ÜberDoober]

Looks like Milk N Donuts will be in the Dryer & Reinbold #23 with her CITGO sponsorship.
http://www.indycar.com/news/?story_id=13693

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/MilkaD.jpg
© indycar.com

[LittleAlguy]

I'm making a bold prediction: a non-Big Three team will win this race. That will definitely be the story of the race and perhaps the season. There will be a performance gap and Penske and Ganassi (to a lesser extent AGR but with reasonable chance) will be tops most often but will it be small enough that shrewd strategy can give a Vision, N/H/L or Panther a chance on the big ovals.

[ÜberDoober]

Boy! My sleep/wake brain function is all screwed up and fuzzy today. :ack2:

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/IndyP1results.jpg

[ÜberDoober]

Grid: Road Runner Turbo Indy 300
Row 1
Graham Rahal Car # 02
Robert Doornbos Car # 06

Row 2
Danica Patrick Car # 7
Scott Dixon Car # 9

Row 3
Marco Andretti Car # 26
Mario Moraes Car # 5

Row 4
Ryan Briscoe Car # 6
Tony Kanaan Car # 11

Row 5
Dan Wheldon Car # 4
Ed Carpenter Car # 20

Row 6
Sarah Fisher Car # 67
Milka Duno Car # 23

Row 7
Hideki Mutoh Car # 27
Vitor Meira Car # 14

Row 8
Raphael Matos Car # 2
Mike Conway Car # 24

Row 9
Justin Wilson Car # 18
Stanton Barrett Car # 98

Row 10
Ryan Hunter-Reay Car # 21
Dario Franchitti Car # 10

Row 11
Helio Castroneves Car # 3
E.J. Viso Car # 13


Castroneves & Franchitti had their times thrown out for going below the white line. I'm hoping for good weather tomorrow. Truck race from Kansas has been postponed until Monday due to a downpour. :realMad:

[LittleAlguy]

That was a pretty good session. Great seeing N/H/L have a great run in qualies. Should be fun watching Helio and Dario go through the field. Hopefully, they can get the race in and it's a clean, safe race.

[LittleAlguy]

Neat little feature on spotters.

[ÜberDoober]

♫♫ Aaa Fro Ton-eee ♫♫ It should be a song.

It looks really windy. Let's hope it stays dry.

[LittleAlguy]

Yeah, perhaps I could come up with lyrics. :winky:

Sad that HVM or Viso can't afford another hat. It still has his old number "33".

[LittleAlguy]

Somewhere, Mike Knight cringes.

Grr, this is only part about this time of year that stinks: allergies. :(

[ÜberDoober]

Helio is just cute sometimes.

Rick Mears and Roger. Cool! You'd think if they fear weather is moving in and they're talking about getting to halfway, they'd get the show on the road?

Hey, missed you for the GP this morning? Girlfriend? :)

[LittleAlguy]

Nah, I was just so tired after last night. I was out with a friend on Saturday night and it took a lot out of me. I was hoping that there was a re-run of the race but I didn't see one.

Yeah, I'm with you on pre-race. I'm glad they're giving IndyCar its due with covering stories from before and this race but they should be a little more fluid. It's not the length but the circumstance (i.e. weather) that's my big thing. I'm fine with it as long as there's no compromise to race coverage.

[ÜberDoober]

Danica & TK, that was close!

[LittleAlguy]

Egads, that was hair 'em, scare 'em time.

edit: Dixon to the lead. He's pulling away just a touch.

[ÜberDoober]

Dixon to the front. Why am I not surprised?

[LittleAlguy]

Whoa, that could have been much worse.

[ÜberDoober]

Meira & Castroneves. Damn!

[LittleAlguy]

Man, Viso's had no kind of luck so far this season.

[ÜberDoober]

Patrick fading quickly. AGR cars in a line

[LittleAlguy]

That penalty just killed Doornbos. He's making no ground despite a pretty decent car. Perhaps they're splitting strategy and putting him on a more conservative fuel mapping setting.

[LittleAlguy]

That was pretty nifty defense from Rahal. Kept him higher in the line and then got TK to back off.

Wheldon making a move up through the field. Goes by DP. (oops, that took away some momentun)

[ÜberDoober]

Some wild 3 wide action in the nonstop window

[LittleAlguy]

Here comes the mass entrance to pitlane.

Great battle between Graham and Ryan Briscoe.

That note of Dixon''s mileage doesn't sound great for the rest of the field.

[ÜberDoober]

7 laps to go in NASCAR @ Talledega and they just had ANOTHER big one. There's only about a dozen cars left!

[LittleAlguy]

Yikes, that blows.

Big winner on the sequence - Helio, big loser - Moraes

[ÜberDoober]

Go get 'em, Briscoe. Milk & Donuts

[ÜberDoober]

Caution for Matos. He's done.

[LittleAlguy]

Holy schnikeys at the end of the Cup race. :eek:

Darn, I dislike these yellows. Matos was able to keep it going. This should be a quickie yellow.

edit: looks like the usual suspects up front again.

[ÜberDoober]

Holy schnikeys at the end of the Cup race. :eek:

Damn! That was violent.

[ÜberDoober]

Things are heating up big time

[LittleAlguy]

Pretty pass by Dario.

Hmm, wind dying down? That's a good thing. :thumbup1:

edit: boo, bad cut!

[ÜberDoober]

Looking like it might go the distance? Glad I watched MotoGP live last night or I'd be torn right now. It was a good race.

[LittleAlguy]

Nice pick by DP on Dario.

She's making some moves. Those changes worked quite well.

On the other end of the spectrum, Wheldon's struggled through this segment.

[ÜberDoober]

Forget what I just said. I just heard the weather is 10 miles out. Damn. :realMad:

[LittleAlguy]

Forget what I just said. I just heard the weather is 10 miles out. Damn. :realMad:

They may still be able to make it the distance if it stays green...

Never mind.

[ÜberDoober]

Oh man! Dario in the wall. Rotten timing on those just pitting. I think?

[LittleAlguy]

Yup. Rahal looks as though he was hurt the most by that.

Funny enough, Marco benefited from that. He's in 5th.

[ÜberDoober]

That's a pissed Penske.

Quite the sacrifice by Franchitti but it was his bonehead move in the first place.

[LittleAlguy]

The only way I can see a pass up front is if traffic gets in the way. I don't see a car making a run on their own without help.

[ÜberDoober]

I agree. Danica is losing the front pack.

[LittleAlguy]

Spectacular sequence between Mutoh and Rahal. He's making big moves but it won't be enough to battle for the win.

[ÜberDoober]

Dixon Wins!

Great run by Castroneves from the rear. So glad it went the distance.

[LittleAlguy]

Dixon takes the win. He's closing in on Hornish for the IRL IndyCar record. Pretty decent race though Dixon pretty much made the battle for victory all his own.

Good run from the back from Helio. I was hoping for better from Rahal but that last stint salvaged a little. Disappointed for Doornbos as he could have had a nice run without that penalty. Not sure what happened to Wheldon late.

Seems like the gap has closed a little but there's still work to do for those other teams.