As the man put it himself, "It was a lot of fun passing 10 cars! If you put to one side where we finished-because 13th position is still far from a good result-I think we had a reasonable race compared to the last one. I had a good time and was able to pass quite a few of the midfield competitors who we've been struggling to keep pace with in recent races. Obviously, starting from the back of the grid is not something I want to have to repeat but we did a good job to fight for something better and I think the team can be pleased with our performance today."
Barrichello was completely surprised to find that Button was a full two seconds per lap faster. His response to hearing the news over the intercom was, "Don't make me laugh!" Although when Button caught up, Barrichello was happy to move over and let the young playboy by. His comments on the race: "Obviously, today was always going to be difficult starting from the back of the field. The car was moving around quite a bit from corner to corner and there wasn't much I could do from where we started."
Indeed the Honda team scored zero points by race end and was a full lap behind the 1-2 Ferrari finishers, Massa and Rikknen. Despite the finish, it's clear Honda is building momentum in the season. Here's to kicking ass in Italy guys.
Indy Hits Infineon
The Battle For The Driver's Championship Rages OnIt was no big surprise that Dario Franchitti qualified on the pole position during the Motorola Indy 300 at Infineon Raceway. He went on to rocket off and lead the largely uneventful race until just 11 laps remained. Just as most of the crowd was beginning to fall asleep, Franchitti made contact with teammate Marco Andretti while Andretti was exiting the pits from one of many routine stops.
The bender happened in turn two-a blind uphill right that leads the cars into a series of undulating interconnected corners. Andretti was forced to park it right then, but Franchitti, having only suffered minor damage to the left front wing, elected to continue for the rest of the race. The missing downforce was enough to cause sketchy handling and the result was a pass by his rival, Scott Dixon (don't worry, he's in a Honda too).
It didn't take Dixon long to reel in the damaged Franchitti on turn three and Helio Castroneves was able to sneak by less than a minute after that. (Oh, he's in a Honda too). Castroneves tried on a number of occasions to squeak by Dixon but was unsuccessful, giving Dixon a thin four-point lead in the 2007 IndyCar Series. We imagine that some of you just care about Danica Patrick. Fair enough-she finished sixth (she was in a Honda). With just two races left, you can bet the action is going to start heating up.
Dixon was encouraged by his win at Infineon saying, "This was exactly what we needed today, another win and taking over the points lead. The crew was fantastic all day, the car was great and we had really quick stops. But it was a tough day, a tough weekend. It was very, very intense out there with a lot of different tactics going on among the various teams. TK (Tony Kanaan) was a real pain to us. He was doing what he could to protect Dario (Franchitti) and it was very frustrating. I just wanted to race Dario one-on-one, I didn't want to have to deal with TK. But I suppose if we were in the same position we would have done the same thing. Now, we go on to Detroit and Chicago with the points lead. We're exactly where we want to be."
Doing the math, we find that Dixon, Franchitti and Tony Kanaan are the only three people (all in Hondas) who can potentially win the series driver's championship after this race in Sonoma. Of course by the time you read this, it will be over. So let us know how Belle Isle Park in Detroit went on Sept. 2, and Chicagoland in Joliet, Ill.