Backstretch Motorsports

NEWTON, IOWA - Dario Franchitti is two-for-two at Iowa Speedway. The 2007 winner at the track found his way back to victory lane Sunday, winning the Iowa Corn Indy 250 by 5.0132 seconds over Ryan Briscoe.

Franchitti gave the credit to his Target Chip Ganassi Racing crew, which turned in a quick pit stop on Lap 196 of 250 as the leaders cycled through green flag stops.

Franchitti trailed Briscoe by less than a second as the stops began and led by more than a second when they were completed. As the drivers worked through lapped traffic over the final 50 laps, Franchitti was able to build his lead to a comfortable margin.

Franchitti’s second victory of the season moved him within three points of Briscoe, who remains the IndyCar Series points leader. For the third consecutive race, Briscoe led the most laps but finished second.

Andretti Green Racing’s Hideki Mutoh finished third, one spot lower than his career-best finish at the track last year, and Panther Racing’s Dan Wheldon finished fourth as the top four finishers came from different teams.

Helio Castroneves, who started on the pole based on entrant points after qualifying was cancelled due to water seepage on the track, finished seventh. He made contact with Scott Dixon early in the race, forcing both cars to pit for repairs. Dixon finished fifth.

The race got off to a rough start with four caution periods in the first 55 laps but finished with stints of 56 and 127 consecutive green-flag laps.

Iowa Speedway Race Results
Race Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2009

Key:
No: Car Number C/E/T: Chassis/Engine/Tire
S: Starting Position F: Finishing Position
XL: Times Led LL: Laps Led
Pts: Points

Pos. Driver/Car No C/E/T S Qual
Speed Laps XL LL Status Pts

1 Dario Franchitti
TOM TOM 10 D/H/F 4 0.000 250 4 68 Running 50

2 Ryan Briscoe
Team Penske 6 D/H/F 2 0.000 250 3 85 Running 42

3 Hideki Mutoh
Formula Dream 27 D/H/F 11 0.000 250 0 0 Running 35

4 Dan Wheldon
National Guard Panther Racing 4 D/H/F 6 0.000 250 1 8 Running 32

5 Scott Dixon
Target Chip Ganassi Racing 9 D/H/F 3 0.000 249 1 1 Running 30

6 Tomas Scheckter
Mona Vie/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 23 D/H/F 16 0.000 249 0 0 Running 28

7 Helio Castroneves
Team Penske 3 D/H/F 1 0.000 249 1 16 Running 26

8 Mike Conway
Dad’s Root Beer Dreyer & Reinbold 24 D/H/F 19 0.000 249 0 0 Running 24

9 Danica Patrick
Boost Mobile/Motorola 7 D/H/F 5 0.000 249 2 24 Running 22

10 Ed Carpenter
Menards/Vision Racing 20 D/H/F 13 0.000 248 0 0 Running 20

11 Graham Rahal
McDonald’s Racing Team 02 D/H/F 9 0.000 245 0 0 Running 19

12 Marco Andretti
Team Venom Energy 26 D/H/F 8 0.000 244 0 0 Running 18

13 Jaques Lazier
CURB/Agajanian/Team 3G 98 D/H/F 20 0.000 237 0 0 Running 17

14 Tony Kanaan
Team 7-Eleven 11 D/H/F 7 0.000 108 1 48 Contact 16

15 Robert Doornbos
Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing 06 D/H/F 14 0.000 58 0 0 Handling 15

16 Raphael Matos
US Marines Luczo Dragon Racing 2 D/H/F 12 0.000 53 0 0 Contact 14

17 Mario Moraes
KV Racing Technology/Votorantim 5 D/H/F 15 0.000 52 0 0 Contact 13

18 Justin Wilson
Z-Line Designs 18 D/H/F 10 0.000 33 0 0 Contact 12

19 Ryan Hunter-Reay
ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing 14 D/H/F 17 0.000 2 0 0 Contact 12

20 E.J. Viso
PDVSA HVM Racing

INDYCAR SERIES POST-RACE NOTES:

· Dario Franchitti earns his 10th career victory and his second victory of the season. He also won at Long Beach.

· Franchitti has won both of his starts at Iowa Speedway. He also won the race in 2007.

· This is the 28th IndyCar Series victory for Target Chip Ganassi Racing. This is the team’s fourth win of the season.

· The top four finishers came from four different teams. The top six finishers came from five teams.

· Ryan Briscoe finished second for the third consecutive race. Briscoe has led the most laps in each of those races (Milwaukee, Texas, Iowa).

· Briscoe remains the points leader and is the first driver to hold the points lead for two consecutive races this season.

· Hideki Mutoh finished a season-best third. His career-best finish of second came at Iowa last year.

· Dan Wheldon finished fourth, his sixth consecutive top-10 finish.

· Scott Dixon finished fifth, his fourth top-five finish of the season.

· Tomas Scheckter finished sixth, his best finish since fifth at Kentucky in 2007. It is the best finish for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing since a fourth last year at Watkins Glen with driver Buddy Rice.

· Mike Conway finished a career-best eighth. It’s also his first top-10 finish of his career.

· The last time Dreyer & Reinbold had two cars finish in the top 10 was at last year’s Indianapolis 500 when Buddy Rice finished eighth and Townsend Bell finished 10th.

· Danica Patrick finished ninth. She and Dan Wheldon lead all drivers with six consecutive top-10 finishes. Patrick led her first laps since Kentucky 2008.

***

INDYCAR SERIES POST-RACE QUOTES:

DARIO FRANCHITTI (No. 10 TOM TOM, first): “I like driving here. We tested at Iowa last Wednesday. The Target guys did a really, really good job coming up with a setup, and they were awesome in the pits. I just went out, did my job and hung on, made some good moves in traffic and here we are. More than anywhere, today is a team win because those pit stops moved us up in track position.”

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske, second): “It was a great day for Team Penske. Dario (Franchitti) had a bit more than us when on cold tires. On the restarts, he was a bit better than us. We were quickest throughout the middle of the stint. I was hoping I would be able to catch him in traffic, but he just got a bit more luck with those guys and actually opened up the gap. It was a tough one but a great day. The car was awesome. We had to make a bit of changes on the first pit stop, but from there the car was great.”

HIDEKI MUTOH (No. 27 Formula Dream, third): “I was hoping to be one step up on the podium. This is one step down. But it’s still a podium finish, so I’m happy. The Formula Dream team gave me a very good car.” (On recording his best finishes at Iowa): “It seems like Iowa is my favorite track because of the results. Maybe it should be.”