Franchitti survives Andretti’s late bid

Dario Franchitti persevered to win the inaugural Iowa Corn Indy 250.

NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — Dario Franchitti hung around the lead as car after car ran into trouble on the Iowa Speedway’s new short oval. He made a daring move to grab the top spot as soon as he saw an opening, then kept it by using his head.

Franchitti, the IndyCar Series points leader, survived a slippery track and a furious late charge from teammate Marco Andretti to win the inaugural Iowa Corn Indy 250 Sunday.

Franchitti, whose other victory in 2007 came at the Indy 500, held the cherished bottom line on the final laps to win by 0.0681 seconds. The victory helped Franchitti open a 51-point lead over Tony Kanaan in the overall standings.

“I knew if I stopped at the yellow line, Marco was going to have a hard time getting around me,” Franchitti said. “He was very smart.”

Eight of top 10 had troubles

Scott Sharp was third, followed by Buddy Rice and Darren Manning. Eight of the top 10 drivers in the points standings, including Kanaan and Sam Hornish Jr., were either involved in crashes or had mechanical trouble through the first 100 laps.

Unseasonably cool weather left the drivers with cold tires coming out of pit stops. That led to three accidents that knocked out seven cars on the 0.875-mile track, which ran fast and offered very little room to maneuver.

Franchitti went high up the steep banking to pass Rice on lap 151 and take the lead. He was quickly joined by Andretti, and the pair took a sizable edge over the rest of the field. Franchitti made his final pit stop with 35 laps to go, refusing to take new tires and opting for fuel only.

That decision proved critical in the final laps. Franchitti opened his lead to more than 5 seconds shortly after pitting, but a caution flag allowed Andretti to close the gap.

“We took a bit of a gamble there at the end to extend our lead and it worked for us,” Franchitti said. “We didn’t need that last yellow, though the car was fantastic all day.”

Franchitti foils Andretti

Franchitti held the inside groove, however, and Andretti never got a chance to make a move.

“At the end it came down to just the two of us, and I had nothing for Dario,” Andretti said.

A multiple-car crash on the 99th lap changed the course of the race, knocking Danica Patrick, Sam Hornish Jr., A.J. Foyt IV and Kosuke Matsuura out of contention. Patrick made contact with Ed Carpenter, and Hornish and Foyt got tangled up in the mess. Carpenter’s car spun around completely, but he continued.

“It’s a cold day and the tires are really hard,” said Patrick, coming off the best finish of her career, third, at Texas Motor Speedway two weeks ago.

Helio Castroneves and Franchitti came out 1-2 after the first caution flag. Castroneves held the lead until he spun coming out of his first pit stop, 71 laps in. He rallied to finish eighth.

Kanaan’s car fishtailed on lap 85, and Jeff Simmons caught his back tires as he tried to pass high. The accident ended the day for both Kanaan and Simmons.

Pole-sitter Scott Dixon’s day was effectively over almost as soon as it began. He pitted right before the end of the first caution flag, which came out on the first lap, because of issues with his steering wheel. Dixon re-entered the race and finished 10th.