Castroneves wins Indy's 200th; Power's points lead crumbles at Kentucky

As the dust settles after the 200th Izod IndyCar Series race at Kentucky Speedway, Helio Castroneves was riding high. The Penske Racer driver and his team turned mid-race misfortune into a positive as his Verizon sponsored Dalara outlasted the field to win the Kentucky Indy 300. Castroneves was forced to pit before a mid race restart after the team feared the right rear wheel nut was loose after pit stops. The team topped-off the fuel tank before sending him back out, a call which would allow Helio to stay out as the leaders began to pit and handed him the lead in the race's final laps.

Panther racing teammates Dan Wheldon and Ed Carpenter finished second and third after leading a combined 104 of 200 laps around the 1.5 mile oval, an impressive stat since the ovals have fallen to the dominance of Penske and Ganassi racing this year. The team appeared energized as they fed off of Dan Wheldon's 2nd place finish last Saturday Night at the Chicagoland Speedway as they look to make a statement in the last two races of the season.

Not everyone left the track happy after Indy Car's 200th. Points leader Will Power saw his points lead crumble from 23 points to 7 over Dario Franchitti with just two races remaining in the championship. Power dropped from third to eight in the running order as his late race splash for fuel took longer than expected, placing the Penske Racing driver three positions behind defending-champion Dario Franchitti as he goes for his third championship of his career that looked all but out of reach when the day began. The battle for the 2010 Izod IndyCar Series Championship heads to Motegi Japan next where Dario hopes to snatch the points lead away on September 18th at 10:30pm EST in the Indy Japan 300.

[information from IndyCar.com was used in this report]

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