BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Tony Kanaan held off protege Marco Andretti for the final 27 laps Sunday and won the Firestone Indy 400, a race marred by a spectacular wreck in which Andretti Green Racing teammate Dario Franchitti took a wild, upside-down ride.
"We did not have the fast car, and the kid was my wingman," Kanaan said after crossing the finish line less than a car-length ahead of Andretti, who recently moved to Miami to live and work out with the Brazilian driver. "He protected me, but he was also trying, believe me. I said, 'OK, let's play it to the end.'"
The race began 4½ hours late because of rain. Only eight of 20 cars that started the 200-lap event were running at the end.
There were a couple of crashes early in the race, including one that took out defending winner Helio Castroneves and Vitor Meira, but the big one came on Lap 144 when Dan Wheldon, trying to overtake leader Dario Franchitti, appeared to drive his right front tire into Franchitti's left rear.
Suddenly, Franchitti's car soared high in the air, backward and upside down. He came down on top of the car driven by Scott Dixon and, before it was over, cars driven by A.J. Foyt IV, former Michigan winner Tomas Scheckter, three-time series champion Sam Hornish Jr. and Ed Carpenter were also involved.
"I'm a lucky guy," said Franchitti, who watched his teammates battle for the win from his pit.
Both Dixon and Hornish were able to return to the race, looking for points, after their crews scrambled to fix their battered cars. Hornish wound up ninth and Dixon 10th, while Franchitti, who dominated the race before his crash, was 13th.
The final result left the championship duel at the top exactly as it was when the race began, with Dixon, who had won three straight races and was closing in on Franchitti, still 24 points behind.
Danica Patrick, the fourth AGR driver, was right behind Kanaan and Andretti in the final stint and appeared to have a good shot at her first IndyCar Series win until she had to pit on Lap 187 with a deflating right rear tire.
She told her team on the radio, "This is just the nightmare of my life. I can't believe it."
After that, it was just the 32-year-old Kanaan and the 20-year-old Andretti, often separated by inches.
Andretti was able to move alongside Kanaan's green No. 11 on each of the last 10 laps, but he couldn't get past.
With the IRL and track officials unable to come to agreement on a date for next year, it appears this was the last IndyCar race at the track for at least a while.
"I'm sad this [race] is going away but, as you guys saw, it was a crazy race," Kanaan said. "I kind of have mixed feelings about whether I'm going to miss it or not.
"Every win is special. It was good for the team. We did what we were supposed to do. I feel sorry for Dario but, as worse as it could be, Dixon went with him. We're looking good, so maybe we can catch up to Dario and go 1-2."
Franchitti didn't have mixed feelings about the race after his misadventure Sunday.
"After that one, I'm not going to miss it for sure," the Indianapolis 500 winner said. "I had a very fast car today, but we were out there just battling wheel-to-wheel with Dan, and you saw what happened."
Scott Sharp wound up third, followed by Kosuke Matsuura, former Michigan winner Buddy Rice and Ryan Hunter-Reay, the last car on the lead lap. Patrick finished seventh, a lap down.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
Source: ESPN.com
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