Kansas 300 Recap

[ACTF_ZETT]

Unfortunately I missed the Kansas Race this weekend. I have not seen a race discussion thread on these forums for the race yet, can anyone give me a quick recap?

ESPN and other sites coverage of the series is laughable. I do know that Danica pulled out in front of Kanaan in the pits and practically took him out of the race (NJ AG pit crew). How were Kanaan and Patrick running at this point?

Anything else happen that I should know about? This race was of pretty big importance going into Indy. This week should be quite exciting learning how many cars will actually be in the mix to run for the Indy 500. Would be nice to get a 33 car field on pole day for once.

[tcsparky]

The race was a little on the dull side for the most part. Marco stopped because he said his car had no grip, Tony Kaanan and Danica ran into each other in th pits. A miscommunication of some sort. Tomas was competive and finished, I believe 5th. Dan Wheldon is good and he showed it in Kansas. Milka Duno didn't hit anything so that was OK.

[Alexamateo]

No time for a lot of Detail but:

Dan Dominates, laps all but 3 others.

Sam "pushing like a pig" loses lap early before it gets sorted out.

Crew tells Danica to go and she hits TK ruining a almost sure Top 3.

Marco can't get handle on car again and parks it.

Milka runs all day and does decent job.

2 single car accidents by SHarp & Carpenter.

Strong run by Dario who finishes 2nd.

FWIW, some complain about cars not finishing in a pack, but I like to see leaders lapping cars and having to deal with lapped traffic.

[DavePI2]

It is also nice to see the best car win, and not have manufactured finishes as in certain other so called racing series.


David

[Hoss Ghoul]

Marco is embarrasing himself IMO...not the next thing for F1. Too much Michael, not enough Mario in his genes.

What happened to all the people saying this year was going to have even more pack racing than we'd ever seen in the IRL, it'd be so dangerous, etc...far from it, It hasn't been this strung out in years.

[Komahawk]

Also, Dixon almost took the win in the end. Beat Wheldon in the pits and came out with 2 seconds gap, but got a drive thru.

About Marco, outside his runner-up finish at Indy, he mostly had rather disappointing results on the ovals last year. Even Foyt beat him in Chicago. And this year he got 3 DNFs in 3 oval races. Is it possible, that a guy named Andretti has trouble racing on ovals? He should be strong on the remaining road races though, so he still might get another F1-test or maybe more.

Matsuura 4rd DNF in 4 races, no crash this time though.

Danica complained about a "crap setup" after the race.

[Komahawk]

Oh yea, and did anyone else see the "salute" from Wheldon towards Sharp when he lapped him near the end? I watched the race on the IRL-hp, the in-car-cams showed it pretty clearly. I wonder if that will have any consequences...

Sharp BTW crashed all by his own, just like last year. Damn! Was on course/speed for top10 until then.

[pressdog]

Copious notes from the broadcast here:

Kansas Race Notes

[Toe_Knee_Jorge]

Milka seemed very sweet it was a nice surprise.

I wonder if Hugo will be at the 500 or stop by the Citgo at Southport and I 65

(that Citgo is a 7-11. two sponsors, from two different drivers and teams. that's an odd combination)

[ACTF_ZETT]

How Marco keeps parking his car is beyond me. That is unacceptable from my standpoint. How can Kanaan and Dario handle these tracks and Danica and Marco keep complaining. However, complaining is one thing, parking the car is another.

This has nothing to do with the Indy 500 though. You know that every Andretti Green car is going to be hooked up for the race. I would still say the Indy 500 winner would have to be a Penske, Andretti, or AGR driver.

I also heard that after the race Michael called a team meeting with Kanaan and Danica. I was wondering what that was about. I havnt seen the replay but from what you have said here, it was not either of their faults.

Interesting that the Ganassi cars cannot make it through a race without getting a penalty of some sort.