After a frustrating first season with Marlboro Team Penske, two-time Indy Racing League champion Sam Hornish Jr. is back in Victory Lane and back on top of the IndyCar Series points standings.
After finishing second in the season-opening race two weeks ago, Hornish backed it up yesterday with a hard-earned victory in the XM Satellite Radio Indy 200 at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Ariz.
Sam Hornish Jr. is on top of the IndyCar Series points standings after winning the XM Satellite Indy 200 by 1.04 seconds at Phoenix International Raceway.
(Roy Dabner -- AP)
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"Really, it's been a tough road over the last year," said Hornish, whose only other victory with the Penske team came in the 2004 season opener at Homestead. "Every time we thought we were turning the corner, something else happened. This start has been a real pleasant surprise."
Another typical IRL photo finish appeared to be shaping up with two laps to go before Dario Franchitti gambled and lost.
With Hornish holding a narrow lead over Franchitti after the last of four caution flags in the 200-lap event, the Scotsman tried an outside move on the restart on Lap 199 and wound up sliding up the slick one-mile oval and scraping the concrete wall in turn two.
Hornish raced on to his 13th career victory, beating teammate Helio Castroneves to the finish line by 1.04 seconds -- about half the final straightaway.
"We threw the dice," Franchitti said, shrugging. "I had to make a move soon and understeered right up into the wall. Sam was just perfect on the restart. He did nothing wrong."
All three of the contenders knew they had to make fuel stops in the final 25 laps and Franchitti was the first to do so, giving up the lead to Hornish when he pitted for tires and fuel on Lap 179.
Franchitti, part of the powerful four-car Andretti Green Racing team that also fields entries for reigning series champ Tony Kanaan, Homestead winner Dan Wheldon and Phoenix pole winner Bryan Herta, found himself second to Hornish when Tomas Scheckter bounced off the wall and brought out the final caution flag on Lap 193.
"I knew going into that last restart that Dario was a little better on fresh tires when we both had them and that he was going to be a lot better," Hornish explained.
The leader held the inside line and forced Franchitti to make an outside move.
"When I tried to pass someone during the race, they tried to make me do it on the outside and I figured that's the best position to put somebody in, too," Hornish noted.
Kanaan, who completed every lap of every race on the way to his title in 2004, got his second straight third-place finish, with Franchitti holding on to fourth. Scott Sharp, making his 100th IRL start, was fifth, followed by Wheldon.
• NASCAR NEXTEL CUP: Ryan Newman headed to the lake yesterday to get in some fishing.
"Can you imagine that we're actually talking about having a day off at a racetrack?" Newman said, feigning disbelief at the impact of NASCAR's new pre-race schedule.
Newman will start from the pole in today's Golden Corral 500 in Hampton, Ga., just as he has for the last four Nextel Cup races at the 1.54-mile tri-oval. His five straight poles are an Atlanta record, but all that success in qualifying has yet to yield a win on race day.
"We're knocking on the door," Newman insisted. "We've had a car that's been capable of winning all three races this year."
Newman turned a dominating lap at 194.690 mph Friday night. Bobby Hamilton Jr. turned in the best qualifying run of his career, putting up the second-fastest speed (193.785) to earn a front-row spot alongside Newman.
