MVN - Most Valuable Network

SHE’S THE ONE: Danica makes history!

Patrick scores long-awaited first win in Japan

After 49 starts, several near-misses and thousands of questions about whether or not she’d be able to win a race, Danica Patrick finally took her first checkered flag in the IndyCar Series.

Utilizing brilliant fuel strategy, Patrick became the last driver standing in a late-race game of “Russian Roulette” amongst leaders that had to pit in order to get one last splash of fuel to make it to the finish. Taking the lead from a fading Helio Castroneves on Lap 198, the Andretti Green Racing driver managed to bring it home at Twin Ring Motegi and win the Indy Japan 300 in her 50th career IndyCar start.

The No. 7 Motorola/AGR crew exploded in joy as she raced across the finish line to become the first woman to win a major closed circuit auto racing event. When Patrick got of her car, she was in tears as she hugged both family members and team owner Michael Andretti.

But even though she showed clear emotion, she still didn’t want to come off too sappy in her post-race interview with ESPN’s Jack Arute:

“I feel like a wuss crying, but it’s been a long time coming. Finally.”

Patrick managed to stay in the top ten up to Lap 143, when she and the rest of the leaders came into the pits to take tires and fuel. When the stops were over, Scott Dixon had maintained his lead, while Patrick found herself in sixth position.

But five laps later, Patrick, Castroneves and Ed Carpenter came back in for another splash of fuel in an attempt to use fuel mileage as a springboard to victory.

Patrick fell back several positions on the restart at Lap 150, but on Lap 195, the stars began to finally align for her. At that point, Carpenter surprisingly pulled into the pits for a splash of fuel. Dixon followed him into the pits quickly, and one lap later, so did Dan Wheldon and Tony Kanaan.

With three laps left and the other contenders out of the picture, Patrick blew by a fuel-saving Castroneves on the high side heading into Turn 3. It was the culmination of a race-long strategy by Patrick and her team to conserve fuel.

But she didn’t know if it would pay off until she had put the No. 3 Team Penske Dallara in her rear view mirror:

“…It wasn’t until halfway through the stint that I had heard it was Helio and myself, I was either going to be second with the rate that the fuel was going, and it wasn’t until I actually passed Helio that I knew ‑‑ I was pretty sure that I was going to win.

“But there was always that worry that the yellow flag would come out or that I wouldn’t be able to catch Helio. But I maintained pretty good speed for how much fuel I was saving.”

Castroneves led the first 93 laps of the race, but had to utilize the short-pit strategy in order to pull himself up from a problematic middle stint that saw him fall into the lower top-10. Noting his runner-up finish to 19-year-old Graham Rahal two weeks ago at St. Petersburg, Fla., the two-time Indy 500 mused that he was “again part of history”:

“With five laps to go, I was saving fuel. When Danica passed me, I realized she was the leader. She did a great job, passed me fair and square and that shows you how competitive our series is.”

But at least Castroneves can take solace in the fact that he’ll leave Japan with the championship lead still in his possession by 12 markers over Dixon, who wound up third. Not only that, he’ll have plenty of company amongst those that were bit by fuel woes.

Dixon took over the lead from Castroneves on Lap 94 and held it for 100 laps until he had to relinquish it for that last hit of ethanol. After the race, he admitted his displeasure at not winning a race that he arguably would have won if not for the fuel strategy that played out on the track:

“It’s just one of those races where anything you tried, you didn’t know exactly what to do. You had people in the back who were pitting and taking fuel under yellows. If we had had a yellow, we would have been stuck back there. But it worked out perfectly for the guys who made it a fuel race.

“Really frustrating, because we had the car to beat, but I guess that’s the way it goes.”

His teammate Dan Wheldon ended up fourth, while AGR’s Tony Kanaan rounded out the top five on a day that was both triumphant and trying for the three-time IndyCar Series champions. The race started on a low note for them as Marco Andretti spun out and hit the Turn 2 SAFER Barrier on the first lap for his second DNF in a row.

Andretti’s rookie teammate Hideki Mutoh, who raced in front of his home fans, also ran into trouble later on Lap 48. After Marty Roth crashed in Turn 4, Mutoh ended up tagging the inside of pit wall and caused front-wing damage to the No. 27 machine. He was mired in mid-pack for the rest of the afternoon, finishing a disappointing 11th.

But in the end, things were looking up for AGR — and by extension, the Indy Racing League and the sport itself — as the most popular driver in the paddock finally managed to score her breakthrough win.

After he happily embraced Patrick in Victory Lane while flashbulbs popped all around the scene, team owner Michael Andretti predicted that this was only the beginning:

“I think Danica is such a fantastic person and I’m thrilled for her that the monkey is finally off of her back. We have all believed in her and she proved today that she is a winner.

“Frankly, I think this is the first of many.”

The next race for the IndyCar Series is the Roadrunner Turbo Indy 300 on Sunday, April 27 at Kansas Speedway.

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All quotes were taken from Saturday’s trackside report and post-race press conference unless otherwise noted. Those quotes have been attributed to their proper media members and organizations.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 2:47 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.