INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Dario Franchitti stamped his name in the record books, the latest
three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500.
But this was not about Franchitti: It was all for Dan Wheldon.
Franchitti won a wheel-to-wheel, last-lap battle Sunday with Takuma Sato, their tires
briefly touching to send Sato spinning hard into the wall. Franchitti sailed
away to the checkered flag, with Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon
crossing the finish line right behind the Scotsman.
Third went to Tony Kanaan, making it a podium sweep for Wheldon’s three closest
friends in the IndyCar series. Wheldon, the defending race winner and a two-time
champ, was killed in the October season finale, and the entire day was in honor
of D-dub, their fallen friend.
“Everybody up there was a friend of Dan’s, and that about sums it up. Everybody loved
him,” said Franchitti as bagpipes played over the public address system.
“What a race! What a race!” Franchitti said. “I think D-dub would be proud of that
one.”
Kanaan, who used a bold move on a late restart to dart from fifth to first, couldn’t
hold off Franchitti and Dixon on the last restart. It left him winless in 11
career attempts at Indy, but he was OK with the final result.
“Actually it was good for Dan, his three best friends fighting for the win,” Kanaan
said. “Danny, wherever he is right now, I think he’s extremely happy. His three
best friends in the top three.”
Wheldon’s wife, Susie, went to Victory Lane to congratulate Franchitti, who hid his
tears of joy behind a pair of white sunglasses worn in tribute because they were
Wheldon’s preference. She then sat next to Franchitti’s wife, actress Ashley
Judd, in the backseat of the convertible — the same seat she had a year ago for
Wheldon’s win — for the victory lap around the 2.5-mile oval.
The entire day was a tribute to Wheldon, beginning with car owner Bryan Herta driving
a single parade lap around Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the car Wheldon drove
to victory last year. Fans were given white sunglasses to wear on laps 26 and
98, marking the car numbers Wheldon used in his two wins.
It was Susie Wheldon’s first trip to any race track since her husband’s Oct. 16
death, and she watched from Dixon’s pit stand with his wife, Emma. It was the
Dixons who relocated after the accident to St. Petersburg, Fla., to provide
comfort and support for Susie and her two sons in the months after the accident.

So it was fitting on this hot day — the temperature hit 91 degrees, just one shy of
the Indy 500 record — that one of the most competitive races in history ended
with a frantic push from Wheldon’s friends. Ten drivers swapped the lead 35
times, shattering the record of 29 in the 1960 race won by Jim Rathmann.
Until the last lap, when Sato made his move for the win, the race was close but
uneventful.
The only multi-car accident came when a spin by Mike Conway collected Will Power, who
came into the race as the series points leader and winner of the last three
races this season. It was a somewhat frightening accident as Conway, who broke
his front wing when he hit one of his crew members on pit road, hit the outside
wall and his car tilted on its side before coming to rest. And Helio Castroneves
had to deftly maneuver past a bouncing tire that still grazed one of his own
wheels.
Besides that, though, the race was slowed by just eight cautions — including the one
on the last lap — for 39 of the 200 laps.
Marco Andretti, who went into Sunday believing the race “is mine to lose,” was strong
at the start, but a series of adjustments were not to his liking and he
unraveled on his team radio before spinning to bring out the final caution with
13 laps remaining.
Franchitti and Dixon battled back and forth in the final third of the race, with Sato
consistently in the mix. Then came Kanaan, from nowhere it seemed, but he was
unable to hang on to the lead on the restart after Marco Andretti’s crash
brought out the yellow with 13 laps to go.
Andretti said the wreck “definitely rang my bell.”
Everyone thought the race would go to a Chevrolet driver for either Andretti
Autosport or Penske Racing, which won the first four races of the season and
swept the front two rows in qualifying. But in the end, it was three Hondas
fighting for their first win of the season.
After the restart with six laps remaining, Franchitti pulled past Dixon for the final
time. Sato went with him and slid in front of Dixon to split the Ganassi
teammates. The Japanese then went for the lead going into the first turn,
pulling even with Franchitti. But he went in too low, the cars touched, and the
crash sent him into the outside wall.
“It looks like he didn’t give me enough room to go there,” Sato said. “I was a little
below the white line. I had nowhere to go.”
Sato’s car barely missed Franchitti, who coasted across the line under a yellow
caution flag to become the 10th driver to win at least three Indy 500s. All
three of Franchitti’s wins have ended under caution.
This was the second year in a row that a crash on the final lap affected the outcome.
In 2011, rookie JR Hildebrand was leading going into the final turn when his car
slammed into the wall, allowing Wheldon to cruise past and take the checkered
flag.
“I was side by side with Takuma,” Franchitti said. “We hit and I managed to keep it
out of trouble.”
It snaps a disappointing start to the season for Franchitti, who has won the last
three championships but seemed stumped by IndyCar’s new car through the first
four races. In breaking out Sunday for his 31st victory, he’s now in a tie with
Sebastien Bourdais and Paul Tracy on the all-time wins list.
One more win will move Franchitti into seventh place in the record books. The only
drivers ahead of him? The giants of open-wheel racing: three Unsers, two
Andrettis and A.J. Foyt, the all-time wins leader.
RL-Indianapolis 500 Results
By The Associated Press
Sunday
At Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis, Ind.
Lap length: 2.5 miles
(Starting position in parentheses)
All cars Dallara chassis
1. (16) Dario Franchitti, Honda, 200 laps.
2. (15) Scott Dixon, Honda, 200.
3. (8) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 200.
4. (27) Oriol Servia, Chevrolet, 200.
5. (1) Ryan Briscoe, Chevrolet, 200.
6. (2) James Hinchcliffe, Chevrolet, 200.
7. (21) Justin Wilson, Honda, 200.
8. (14) Charlie Kimball, Honda, 200.
9. (20) Townsend Bell, Honda, 200.
10. (6) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 200.
11. (10) Rubens Barrichello, Chevrolet, 200.
12. (11) Alex Tagliani, Honda, 200.
13. (12) Graham Rahal, Honda, 200.
14. (18) J.R. Hildebrand, Chevrolet, 200.
15. (17) James Jakes, Honda, 200.
16. (23) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 200.
17. (19) Takuma Sato, Honda, 199, contact.
18. (9) E.J. Viso, Chevrolet, 199.
19. (22) Michel Jourdain, Honda, 199.
20. (25) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 199.
21. (28) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 199.
22. (30) Katherine Legge, Chevrolet, 199.
23. (13) Ana Beatriz, Chevrolet, 190.
24. (4) Marco Andretti, Chevrolet, 187, contact.
25. (7) Josef Newgarden, Honda, 161, mechanical.
26. (24) Sebastian Saavedra, Chevrolet, 143, electrical.
27. (3) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Chevrolet, 123, suspension.
28. (5) Will Power, Chevrolet, 79, contact.
29. (29) Mike Conway, Honda, 78, contact.
30. (31) Bryan Clauson, Honda, 46, mechanical.
31. (26) Wade Cunningham, Honda, 42, electrical.
32. (32) Simona de Silvestro, Lotus, 10, 105 percent rule.
33. (33) Jean Alesi, Lotus, 9, 105 percent rule.
Race Statistics
Winners average speed: 167.734 mph.
Time of Race: 2:58:51.2532.
Margin of Victory: Under Caution.
Cautions: 8 for 39 laps.
Lead Changes: 34 among 10 drivers.
Lap Leaders: Hinchcliffe 1, Briscoe 2-4, Hinchcliffe 5-6, Briscoe 7-15, Hinchcliffe
16-17, Briscoe 18-19, Andretti 20-21, Briscoe 22, Andretti 23-44, Tagliani
45-46, Dixon 47, Kimball 48-49, Andretti 50-73, Dixon 74-78, Kimball 79,
Andretti 80-90, Dixon 91-118, Sato 119-123, Barrichello 124-125, Sato 126-146,
Dixon 147, Sato 148-152, Franchitti 153-159, Dixon 160, Franchitti 161-162,
Dixon 163-171, Franchitti 172-173, Dixon 174-176, Franchitti 177, Dixon 178,
Franchitti 179-186, Kanaan 187-193, Franchitti 194, Dixon 195-198, Franchitti
199-200.
Points: Power 200, Castroneves 164, Hinchcliffe 164, Dixon 153, Hunter-Reay 143,
Franchitti 136, Pagenaud 136, Briscoe 128, Kanaan 113, Hildebrand 103.