Associated Press
Sunday, May 1, 2005
Rookie Danica Patrick has drawn attention this year as the only woman competing in the IRL's IndyCar Series. After her breakthrough performance at the Indy Japan 300 in Motegi, she'll get more credit for her driving.
Patrick led the first 18 laps on the Honda-built 1.5-mile Twin Ring Motegi oval before settling for fourth, easily her best finish of the year.
England's Dan Wheldon successfully defended his title and became the first IndyCar Series driver to win three of a season's first four races, edging Scott Sharp by 3.4612 seconds.
Buddy Rice was third in front of Patrick, who temporarily fell back to ninth while conserving gas before rallying for fourth. Patrick started from the front row.
"The start was pretty exciting for me," Patrick said. "We had a really good car today. I'm a little upset at the end because we had to save so much fuel, but that was the right decision because it got us to the end of the race."
Tomas Scheckter should have followed Patrick's lead. The South African was leading with two laps to go before running out of gas and finishing 10th.
Bryan Herta was fifth, followed by Tony Kannan, pole sitter Sam Hornish Jr., Darren Manning and Japan's Kosuke Matsuura.
"I'm very proud to have won this race," Wheldon said. "It was a difficult race. You had to watch your fuel level after the 140th lap and keep an eye on your tires."
ยท NASCAR BUSCH SERIES: Martin Truex proved he's just as good at restrictor-plate racing as his boss is, winning his second consecutive Busch Series race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
Truex, who drives a car co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., battled back after an early accident damaged his Chevrolet. Then he avoided several other crashes, a flurry of late cautions, and an intense overtime finish.
With Kerry Earnhardt, Junior's big brother, right on his rear bumper, Truex jumped out on the restart of the three-lap overtime and pulled away.
Kerry Earnhardt got pushed out of the draft, and rookie Jon Wood pulled up to challenge Truex. But Wood never had enough to make a run for the lead, and Truex drove away for the victory.