Problems in the pits derailed Roger Penske's hopes of winning a 16th Indianapolis 500.
Pole-sitter Helio Castroneves and the rest of the Penske Racing Team had a rough day at the Indianapolis 500. Here pit workers re-start his car after it stalled during a pit stop. Castroneves finished ninth.Indianapolis -- What a down day for Roger Penske's race team.
A series of pit-stop miscues Sunday spoiled whatever chances the team owner and Shaker Heights native had of gaining his 16th Indianapolis 500 victory.
Pole winner Helio Castroneves, looking for his fourth Indy victory, stalled his car in the pits, costing himself critical positions on the track, and teammate Ryan Briscoe had a solid day ruined when he hit the wall shortly after a restart.
More problems in the Penske pits: Will Power pulls away from his pit stall with the fueling hose still attached.Another Penske driver, Will Power, was black-flagged for pulling out of the pits with a fuel hose still attached to the car.
In the end, Power finished eighth, Castroneves ninth and Briscoe 24th.
"Silly mistakes put us in the back," Castroneves said.
"As a team, we made too many mistakes today," Power said. "You can't win this race when you keep dropping to the back. We had a bloody fast car. [But] it's the lesson of this place. You have to nail everything on a day like today, and that's how you win this thing. I was just glad to get out of the car at the end."
Andretti redemption: The Andretti Autosports team took its lumps leading up to the race, with no car qualifying better than 16th. But by the end, Tony Kanaan had moved from last to second before finishing 11th, Marco Andretti finished third and Danica Patrick sixth.
Danica Patrick had a rough two weeks at Indianapolis leading up to the race, getting booed after qualifying and during introductions, but a sixth-place finish Sunday turned the jeers to cheers. "I'm very happy with the result," said Patrick, who was booed during qualifying and driver introductions but cheered at the end. "And the reasons that we got it were that our pit stops rocked, and we had perfect strategy. I'm really glad that yellow came out at the end because we were cutting it real close on fuel."
Rahal finishes, but miffed: Graham Rahal finished 12th in his third Indianapolis 500, and completed all 200 laps for the first time. But a black flag for blocking Dan Wheldon on lap 82 cost him positions that he never recouped.
Rahal said he was blocked by Patrick, but it was not called. His father, team owner Bobby Rahal, called the penalty "bogus." But Wheldon made it clear he thought Graham Rahal was guilty.
"It was totally out of order," Wheldon said. "He put me in the grass at over 220 mph. He totally deserved, I think, that penalty."
By the numbers: Dario Franchitti is the 17th driver with at least two Indy 500 wins. . . . There were 13 lead changes among eight drivers. Franchitti led the pack for 155 laps, the ninth most in Indy history. Also leading were Mike Conway (15), Justin Wilson (11), Tomas Scheckter (5), Briscoe (5), Power (5), Castroneves (3) and Marco Andretti (1). . . . There were nine cautions: seven of them one-car mishaps and an eighth for debris. The only multicar crash, on lap 199, involved the most serious injury. Conway broke his left leg and was taken to the hospital. . . . There also were five black flags. Three of them -- given to John Andretti, Townsend Bell and Rahal -- were for blocking.