Fuente: © Penske Racing
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NASCAR: PENSKE RACING: Hornish wins Kansas 300 for 2nd straight Victory

/noticias.info/ Marlboro Team Penske's Sam Hornish Jr. won his second straight IRL IndyCar race and third of the season Sunday with an impressive performance in the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway.

Hornish led 149 of 200 laps on the 1.5-mile oval. It was his 17th IndyCar victory, extending his all-time IRL lead, and was accomplished on his 27th birthday.

"It's a great way to celebrate my birthday," Hornish said. "We're just so happy right now."

Hornish also took the lead in the championship with eight of 14 races completed. He has 300 points and teammate Helio Castroneves is second with 280. "We're real happy to get out of here with the points lead," he said.

Castroneves recovered from a spin and outside wall contact to finish sixth in the No. 3 Dallara/Honda/Firestone. He damaged the rear wing in Turn 4 on the 38th lap and fell to 15th while making three pit stops on consecutive laps to have it replaced.

"I was tryng to move forward through the field and I got stuck in a little dirty air," Castroneves said. "Before I knew it, I was in the wall. It's a little disappointing to lose some points in the championship, but under the circumstances, I'm quite happy with our performance today. The Marlboro Team Penske guys did a great job getting me back out on the track.

"I thought when I crashed, that was it, but when my guys fixed the car, I was like, 'Wow, I'm still in it.' It took a little while to get back in the groove, but I was able to battle through the field and bring the car home near the top."

Hornish started on the outside of the front row in the No. 6 Dallara/Honda/Firestone, and ran second for the opening six laps. He passed pole-sitter Dan Wheldon for the lead and stayed in front until making his first pit stop under caution on lap 40.

Hornish resumed in second, but passed Scott Dixon on the restart for the lead and held it for 100 of the next 103 laps.

Hornish made his third and final pit stop from the lead under green-flag conditions on lap 149. Once the round of stops was complete, Hornish was second behind Dan Wheldon.

"I think I was just a little bit slow coming in, plus Dan was able to stay out a couple more laps and run at a higher speed," Hornish said. "Dan made it out about a second ahead of us. I thought that was going to be really hard to overcome because we were so evenly matched. Once the yellow came out, it all worked for us."

The caution slowed the field from laps 176 through 182.

The race restarted at the conclusion of the 183rd lap and Hornish passed Wheldon on the outside in Turn 3.

"I knew how he was geared on restarts," Hornish said. "He was going to pull away from me a little bit in second and third. Once we got up to fourth and fifth gear, I would be able to catch him a little bit. I wasn't quite sure if I was going to be able to get all the way around him or if I'd have to run beside him. It surprised me a little bit that I was able to get around him going down the back straightaway and going into Turn Three."

Hornish led the final 17 laps and won by .0793 of a second. He had the fastest leading lap at 210.267 mph. Castroneves had the fastest lap at 210.585.

Marlboro Team Penske has won six of the eight races this season. It was the team's first triumph at Kansas and 21st in the IRL.

Results, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any) and money earned:


1. (2) Sam Hornish Jr., Dallara-Honda, 200, Running $125,800
2. (1) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running $104,850

3. (6) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running $80,750
4. (3) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running $63,000

5. (13) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running $57,300
6. (4) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running $50,200

7. (8) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running $50,700
8. (5) Kosuke Matsuura, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running $47,400

9. (11) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running $47,400
10. (17) Jeff Simmons, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running $45,900

11. (12) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 198, Running $44,400
12. (14) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 198, Running $43,100

13. (15) Bryan Herta, Dallara-Honda, 197, Running $41,800
14. (19) Eddie Cheever Jr., Dallara-Honda, 196, Running $40,200

15. (7) Buddy Lazier, Dallara-Honda, 194, Running $38,900
16. (16) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 184, Running $37,500

17. (9) Buddy Rice, Dallara-Honda, 174, Accident $36,100
18. (10) Scott Sharp, Dallara-Honda, 165, Accident $38,100

19. (18) Felipe Giaffone, Dallara-Honda, 66, Handling $34,600

Note: All cars on Firestone tires.

Race Statistics
Winner's average speed: 167.331 mph

Time of race: 01:49:00.3423
Margin of victory: 0.0793 of a second

Cautions: 4 caution flags for 31 laps
Lead changes: 13 among 4 drivers
Lap leaders: Wheldon 1-6, Hornish 7-40, Dixon 41-45, Hornish 46-98, Wheldon 99, Hornish 100-137, Wheldon 138-139, Hornish 140-148, Wheldon 149-153, Sharp 154, Wheldon 155-183, Hornish 184-196, Wheldon 197-198, Hornish 199-200.

Point standings: Hornish 300, Castroneves 280, Dixon 261, Wheldon 257, Meira 227, Kanaan 206, Sharp 176, Franchitti 175, Matsuura 173, Andretti 172. notas_de_prensa_archivo