I would not say rigged for entertainment, but just a very, very bad call on race control. If all those cars had been waved by the pace car, then they should have all been on the same lap....NOT one lap down.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogelio
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I would not say rigged for entertainment, but just a very, very bad call on race control. If all those cars had been waved by the pace car, then they should have all been on the same lap....NOT one lap down.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogelio
I think you're confusing the two different yellow flags. That time, everybody did get the wave around and got back on the lead lap after Dario pitted. They had started another pit stop cycle with splash and go's for those last couple of laps of fuel. Danica spun going in for her's to get the yellow, everybody else had pitted save Dario and Dixon. I am sure they would have had to stop too without the yellow as Dixon of course ran out on the last lap and Dario on the cool-down lap.Quote:
Originally Posted by Montoya Fan
Per the Lap chart, this is what happened. It confused me at the time, but it makes sense now.
Vitor crashed at lap 136 in the middle of a greenflag pit stop sequence. Everybody had pitted except Dixon who was entering pit lane, and Dario. This trapped everyone a lap down except Dixon.
Dario pitted under yellow on lap 140 giving the lead to Dixon, and then they both pitted on lap 148 to top off. On the wave around 8 cars were on the lead lap. Hornish, Castroneves, Patrick, Wheldon, Sharp, and Kanaan in addition to Dixon and Dario.
They got going again and Hornish shot through the field to take the lead again until he started the next cycle of green flag pitstops on lap 184. (Kanaan had been off sequence all day and stopped at lap 174) Then Castroneves pitted on 186, Sharp on 193, and Patrick on lap 194 where of course she spun to bring out the yellow.
About this time, Wheldon ran out of fuel (last stop was lap 135). I think Ganassi ran him out on purpose to see how far they though they could go with Dixon.
When the yellow came out, Dixon and Dario of course had never stopped and were a lap ahead of the field, and it set up the finish.
I wish the announcers would have told us, I kept thinking Hornish et al were on the lead lap.
A good summation Alexmateo. Dixon very nearly lost a lap to Dario. If you watch the replay you will see him leave the pits just before Dario gets by him.
I believe Dario was stuck behind Milka under the yellow and that is what saved Scott. When Dario pitted shortly after that gave Scott his lap back on Dario.
Alexmateo & 45 below, you are both spot on. I'm not sure what is so confusing about this. Helio may have shot off his mouth without taking a few minutes to consider he facts which are very simple - if you pit under green - you lose a lap. When the yellow came out, scott and dairo were the only ones to have not completed their pit stop. simple ah.
Nah, it was not rigged
The 2 for the championship risked it by not pitting and got lucky with a yellow...they would not have finished if not for that yellow.
^ Very true
As far as Danica spinning on purpose, I don't buy it. She was having a great day, and when she entered pit road she was heading in quite quick.I heard her down shift, and right away she spun. If anyone needs to be looked at it's Weldon. That guy (or the 4th female in IRL) ran out of gas in turn 1 and putted around the back straight never attempting to get his car off track. He parked in turn three. That's BS imo.
The question in my mind is this: Since Dixon and Franchitti were the only two cars on the lead lap after the caution came out, why not come in and pit to ensure you have enough fuel? I guess the rest of the field would get the wave-around, but you will still be 1-2 and in no danger of running out of fuel. The risk of getting passed and finishing 3rd or 4th in a 2lap shootout seems less than the risk faced by not having enough fuel to finish the race(especially for Dixon, who should have known finishing 2nd to Dario would be irrelevant). CGR must have just bungled the fuel numbers.
I think they both had made the decision to do whatever the other was doing, and neither one blinked in this case. I also think that since they ran Dan Wheldon out of fuel and he had run more than 52 laps, they figured Dixon was going to make it. They must not have gotten all the duel in Dixon's car or else there was an air pocket or something, because he should have been able to make it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hoss Ghoul
Chicagoland always produces great races...that's why I've only missed two of the races down there. Last year and the year that Buddy Rice was upside down sliding down the backstretch. I believe that was 2004? It's pretty easy getting the tickets from the Nascar fans who aren't open wheel fans.