By: Bruce Martin STEAM CORNERS, Ohio – Scott Dixon got a much-needed win to start his charge to championship contention as he drove to an easy victory in Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. But further back in the pack, the three drivers at Team Penske were distraught after playing the right pit strategy only to get hosed when the pits were closed on the final caution. And even further back, Graham Rahal lit into Danica Patrick after the two were involved in an incident in the “Keyhole” section of the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course that led to Rahal’s car stalled off course. Once he returned to the race he was able to catch up to the back of Patrick’s car and admitted he thought about punting her off course. “I fully thought about it and I could have done it. I could have easily retaliated,” Rahal said. “But it’s not me. I won’t do that to anybody but I will tell you I was very upset. I don’t understand why people are driving like this.” Rahal started sixth and finished 24th while Patrick finished 21st. When asked if he wanted to talk to Patrick, Rahal shot back, “She won’t be around next year anyway. We might as well move on. What do you say to her? This is Danica’s Racing League right now. She’s not going to get a penalty. Look at where the tire mark is on her car. I’m sorry but as long as it goes this way it’s not going to work out. “As long as people are driving like this our luck is never going to change because it seems like we are the target all the time,” Rahal continued. “Someone said Danica had position on me but position is not left-front to right rear. That is not position but go figure she doesn’t get a penalty. I’m not surprised. With the officiating here I’m not surprised. I don’t know why but every weekend it is me. We had a very fast car today. I’m just frustrated as all get-out.” Rahal’s race was cast during an earlier incident when he pitted during the first pit stop after Sebastian Saavedra crashed in the tire barrier in Turn 2. Rahal was about to leave his pit when James Jakes crossed in front of him trying to get into his pit area. Rahal stalled the car and went all the way back to 21st. “It’s a shame for this car because we were fifth or sixth the whole first stint getting better fuel mileage than all the other guys,” Rahal said. “I was saving a ton of fuel and it’s a shame we had to pit under yellow and James Jakes was pitting in front of us and we knew that was going to hurt us. Spot on it was him and that lost us the race.” Patrick had one of the most forgettable weekends of her IndyCar career. But after all the disappointment she gamely came out to meet a group of young fans that wanted her autograph and picture. One teenage boy even said, “I need a hug.” And Patrick turned around and gave the kid a big hug. Actually, Patrick probably needed the hug as much as the teenage boy. “He was coming out of the pits and I was right behind Sebastien Bourdais and there wasn’t enough room for him to get in and neither of us gave up,” Patrick recalled. “He can be vocal. That’s all right. He has freedom of speech and can say whatever he wants. I’ve been penalized before but from my perspective it felt like I had the position but that is why we race. We all want those spots. I think he is entitled to his opinion but I want to see it before I make further comment.” Patrick has pretty much fallen out of favor in the IZOD IndyCar Series because even team owner Michael Andretti expects her to leave for the NASCAR Nationwide Series at the end of the season. “She’s probably gone but it’s not definite,” Andretti said earlier Sunday morning. Patrick and Rahal have had a private feud since she raced for his father’s team in IndyCar from 2005-2006 and Graham was an up-and-coming driver in the Champ Car Series. The mere fact this is even an issue only signifies how Patrick is a lightning rod in the IZOD IndyCar Series this season. But Patrick actually led one time for three laps when she decided not to pit during the first yellow flag. Once the green flag waved she was quickly passed and started to fall back in the field. Once that happened, it was James Hinchcliffe in the lead after the Newman Haas driver made a great drive from a first lap excursion off the race course when he punted off the track in Turn 6. Hinchcliffe used smart fuel strategy and a fast race car to get to the front and stayed there from laps 27-52. Hinchcliffe pitted while leading on Lap 53 and that put Dixon in the lead. Two laps later, Dixon pitted and teammate Dario Franchitti was in front. It was the Rahal-Patrick incident that brought out the second full course yellow flag that helped determine the outcome of the race. The Team Penske cars driven by Power and Briscoe were on what they thought would be a winning fuel strategy. They had saved fuel and pitted on lap 58 when Power was the leader and Briscoe was second. But with the tight pit road at Mid-Ohio both got shuffled back and Franchitti was ruled to be ahead of Dixon leaving the blend line under yellow as Dixon was already back on the race course following his pit stop two laps earlier. That put the two Target/Chip Ganassi cars up front while Power and Briscoe were mired in the back of the pack. Power would finish 14th, Briscoe 16th and Helio Castroneves 19th after he was involved in an incident with J.R. Hildebrand on lap 27. The race was decided on the restart on 61 with Franchitti the leader and Dixon started alongside. Dixon faked one way, Franchitti took that position and then Dixon made a nice crossover move that would have made former NBA star Tim Hardaway proud taking the lead in Turn 4. From there, Dixon checked out on the field and left his key in the room skipping the front desk as he drove to his first win of the 2011 season and the 26th career IndyCar win, tying him with Rodger Ward for 12th on the all-time IndyCar win list. Dixon has never finished lower than fifth in his five IZOD IndyCar Series races at Mid-Ohio. He has also won this race three times in the last five years. “I was trying to get a good jump with Dario and stay on the outside through four,” Dixon said. “He took off like a bloody cannon. Yeah, it was a nice jump. So then the only option I had to do was to slip back inside. Dario obviously moved back to the typical line, which is what you have to do, which left the inside open. So it was a perfect scenario for me; with the way the rules are, Dario can't really defend. So I was going to try slipping the car in there. He gave me plenty of room. That was that. “I didn't wave.” Dixon didn’t need to because once in front he was too far ahead of his competitors for them to even see a waving hand. He defeated Franchitti by a whopping 7.6508-seconds. Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport was third followed by Takuma Sato of KV Racing and his teammate, Tony Kanaan. Franchitti increased his lead over Power to 62 points in the IZOD IndyCar Series points race. Dixon remains a factor, third in points 93 points back. “Dario’s luck is unbelievable,” Power said. “When I look back at the three championships the luck that has gone his way it is unbelievable. Dixon most certainly deserved to win this weekend – he was the quickest guy and won the race. “I’m looking for where Dario keeps his horseshoe because it’s stuck somewhere. But believe it or not the championship is still within reach. It’s tough when things like this happen when your pit crew does a great job, Tim Cindric did a great job with strategy, and I didn’t make any mistakes and saved fuel and had the winning strategy. “What do you have to do?” Maybe it’s time for Power to look for a “Golden Horseshoe” of his own.
