Castroneves wins at Texas to end Penske drought
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Team Penske finally won an IndyCar Series race this season.
Roger Penske's team had been winless in seven races -- and the last nine over two seasons --- but Helio Castroneves ended that Saturday night with a dominating victory in the Firestone 550K at Texas Motor Speedway.
Castroneves became the seventh different winner in eight races this season, posting his 28th career victory. It was his fourth win at the track, the most by any driver in the series, but his first on an oval in more than three seasons.
The Brazilian also took the points lead, breaking a tie entering the race with Marco Andretti, who finished fifth.
Castroneves finished 4.7 seconds ahead of reigning series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Castroneves is bidding for his first series title, the missing piece in his decorated career. He last won 11 races ago, in Edmonton.
The win pushed Castroneves to 12th in career wins, breaking a tie with Johnny Rutherford.
Team Penske's last win had been in August at Sonoma Raceway when Ryan Briscoe won.
Five cars finished on the lead lap. Tony Kanaan had the fresher tires in the final segment, overtaking Ed Carpenter for third place. Carpenter finished fourth and Andretti was fifth.
Andretti led the first 57 laps but wasn't happy with traffic. He gave a hand wave to Sebastien Bourdais.
Andretti now trails Castroneves by 22 points heading to the race at Milwaukee next week.
The Texas race didn't feature the pack racing that the track has been known for, but that was just as well. There were no accidents, not only in the 228-lap race but throughout the weekend.
Oriol Servia, who was taking his turn in the Panther Racing machine, had a lazy spin in Turn 2, but that was the extent of the trouble.
That didn't mean it was easy to drive the cars. The drivers asked Firestone to deliver a tire compound that made it difficult on them, and Firestone did. The degradation through the run meant a big drop-off in speed.
"Man, the drivers had to drive it tonight," Hunter-Reay said.
Three crew members on Scott Dixon's car were burned when a gearbox issue became a small explosion. The burns from the grease were to their hands and face.
