Briscoe leads point standings after 3 second-place finishes

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Ryan Briscoe has taken the most laps at each of the last three IndyCar Series races, only to wind up watching someone else win the checkered flag.

His recent stretch of three consecutive second-place finishes does have a silver lining.

All those seconds have led to first place in the IRL points standings. In fact, Briscoe enters Saturday’s SunTrust Indy Challenge in Richmond, Va., atop the points race for the second straight week — which nobody else has done this season.

Briscoe, now in his second season with Team Penske since taking over for Sam Hornish Jr., finished a career-best fifth in points in 2008.

“It’s a bit frustrating, and it’s probably the laps led that’s helped me hang onto the points lead,” Briscoe said. “Second place is the next best thing and hopefully, you know, maybe we can get a win at the next race.”

Briscoe’s run of seconds began in Milwaukee on May 31, when he led for 154 laps before finishing behind winner Scott Dixon, who zipped past Briscoe late and pulled away.

Briscoe held the edge for 160 laps at Texas, but his last 20 laps were what he called some of the most frustrating he’s ever run. He couldn’t get past teammate Helio Castroneves after Castroneves beat him on the final pit stop. Though Briscoe’s second-place finish put him atop the leaderboard, it was a tough result to swallow.

“Texas, that’s probably the hardest one. I felt as though I had the winning car there, hands down,” Briscoe said.

In last Sunday’s Iowa 250, he held an early lead and retook it from laps 138-194. But Dario Franchitti maneuvered into first after a late pit stop and the traffic broke his way, as Briscoe couldn’t find the space he needed to make a move.

Though Franchitti beat Briscoe by more than five seconds, Briscoe was able to hold onto second — yet again — and those 42 points kept him ahead of Franchitti for the lead.

“It was always going to be tough between myself and Dario, and he just got the better of us at the end of the day,” Briscoe said.