Faltering rivals help Franchitti win Indy

Associated Press

west allis, wis.

Dario Franchitti was sorry to see rival driver Tony Kanaan drop out of contention.

Helio Castroneves? Not so much.

Franchitti took over the lead after Kanaan crashed and Castroneves had a tire problem, then held on to win the IndyCar Series race at the Milwaukee Mile on Sunday.

It might have looked as if Franchitti was taking it easy and waiting for the race to come to him, but he was pushing as hard as he could — especially after a blocking move by Castroneves revved up his temper.

“I was trying to get on Kanaan’s gearbox,” Franchitti said. “I was trying to make it happen. I was still so spittin’ mad from what Helio did on that restart, I was doing all I could to get on to him and get past Tony as well.”

It was the third victory of the season for Franchitti, who stayed out of trouble as Kanaan and Castroneves fell by the wayside.

Kanaan crashed with 31 laps to go, and Castroneves gave up the lead when he had to make a late extra pit stop to change a tire that was going flat.

Graham Rahal was second, followed by Oriol Servia, Will Power and Danica Patrick.

With the victory, Franchitti pulled even with Power in the series points standings.

Castroneves finished ninth, and Franchitti seemed to think Castroneves had it coming after blocking him on a previous restart.

“We had that one restart where Helio blocked to the inside, then blocked to the outside,” Franchitti said. “No wonder he got a flat tire, some of the parts of the track he was using.”

But Franchitti seemed genuinely sorry for Kanaan.

“I think we have a respect for each other,” Franchitti said. “We race each other bloody hard, but there’s always that respect there, too.”

Kanaan said he was just trying to win the race.

“It’s a shame,” Kanaan said. “It’s my fault. But, hey, it was a fun race. We raced each other hard the whole race. Unfortunately, I’m human. I make mistakes sometimes as well.

“I’d rather make a mistake trying hard then actually not trying at all.”