Castroneves finally gets that first win of 2008
Helio Castroneves finally broke through for a victory Sunday at Infineon Raceway, winning for the first time in 30 races. More important, the Team Penske star, frustrated until now with seven runner-up finishes this season, kept alive his hopes for an IndyCar Series championship as points leader Scott Dixon had one of his worst days of the season, finishing 12th.
Dixon saw his lead shrink from a seemingly comfortable 78 points to 43 heading into next week’s race at Detroit’s Belle Isle, the penultimate race of the season.
Castroneves, left, and teammate Ryan Briscoe started 1-2 and finished the same way, completing an amazing weekend after losing their primary cars in a transporter fire on Wednesday and racing in the Grand Prix of Sonoma (Calif.) in hastily prepared backup cars. Tony Kanaan finished third, Dan Wheldon was fourth and Danica Patrick was fifth. Full results can be found here.