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20. 2013 Grand Prix of Sonoma, Sonoma Raceway- Winner: Will Power. Will Power drove like his dominant self at Sonoma after a year in which he had no wins up to that point. He ended up winning 2 of the next 4 races in the series, and took that momentum into the 2014 season and won the 2014 championship. However, controversy arose in this race after a Will Power pit crew member appeared to carry a tire in Dixon’s way as the crew member made his way around the back of Power’s car and as Dixon made his way out of his pit stall. The tire pressed and rolled against Dixon’s side pod, and the crew member was flipped over. Dixon was penalized, and that may have cost him the win, and it helped Power’s teammate Helio Castroneves strengthen his championship lead over Dixon. Dixon said it was “A d*** move” by the crew member.
19. 2013 MAVTV 500, Autoclub Speedway- Winner: Will Power. The one year Power was not in championship contention, he actually finished the last race. Not only that, but he won it. The race featured numerous different leaders and lots of crashes.
18. 2015 Grand Prix of Sonoma, Sonoma Raceway- Winner: Scott Dixon. Juan Pablo Montoya had led the championship standings after each of the first 15 out of 16 races this season. He and Will Power had made slight contact earlier in the race, but Montoya had made it back up to 6th, with Dixon leading. This running order put Montoya and Dixon in a tie for the championship, but Dixon would get the tiebreaker for more wins (including this potential one) with 3 to Montoya’s 2. Dixon took the checkered, but Montoya needed to get around 5th place Ryan Briscoe to win the title. He could not, and Dixon took the race and the championship.
17. 2015 Belle Isle Grand Prix Race 1, Streets of Belle Isle- Winner: Carlos Munoz. The race was shortened due to rain, but even though it was shortened, it was very eventful. Cars gambled and took rain tires before the rain began, but this caused dramatic decreases in lap times. Marco Andretti took the lead on regular tires, but nearly stalled in the middle of the track at one point, dropping him back to 5th. Due to him being on regular tires, he made his way back up to 2nd, behind Will Power. His father Michael Andretti told him to do whatever Power did in terms of pitting. Power pit, Andretti didn’t. Andretti stayed out as long as he could in the dry conditions with the regular tires, gapping the field by a large margin. Unfortunately for him, his teammate Carlos Munoz had pit later than he did initially, so he was able to stay out even longer on the regular tires in the dry conditions. When the rain finally came, Munoz had about a 30-second lead over Andretti. The race was then called due to rain, and Munoz took his 1st ever Indycar victory. Andretti finished in 2nd.
16. 2014 Grand Prix of Houston Race 1, Streets of Houston- Winner: Carlos Huertas. Due to the rain, the race was shortened by a time limit (ended up being shorted 10 laps). This meant that strategy would play a huge factor, and Dale Coyne’s drivers, rookie Carlos Huertas and Justin Wilson, were out front. Wilson had to pit, but Huertas was not sure, then a late caution occurred. The cars were all ready to restart for a 1-lap shootout when 4th place Graham Rahal somehow got into the back of 3rd place Tony Kanaan and spun him out, so the race ended under yellow. Kanaan did not finish the race and Rahal was penalized, leaving 3 Colombians on the podium: Carlos Huertas in 1st, Juan Pablo Montoya in 2nd, and Carlos Munoz in 3rd.
15. 2015 Honda Indy 200, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course- Winner: Graham Rahal. Rahal got extremely lucky, as Sage Karam’s car spun out at an awkward part of the track to bring out a caution right as Rahal entered the pits, which cycled him to the front when everyone else made their final pit stops. He then went wheel to wheel with Justin Wilson on a restart, with Wilson inching ahead by a nose, but took the lead back and hung on for the hometown victory after being counted out in the pre-race because of only being on a 1-car team. One of those who was caught out by the caution, Juan Pablo Montoya, was fuming after the race because he felt that Karam spun out on purpose to get teammate Scott Dixon to the front to give him more points over Montoya in the championship. Montoya stated “Karma is a b****,” but some (including myself), think he meant to switch the second A with the M.
14. 2012 MAVTV 500, Autoclub Speedway- Winner: Ed Carpenter. In the 2012 championship, Ryan Hunter-Reay made up a sizeable points gap and finished right where he needed to finish (top 5, he finished 4th) to beat Will Power in the championship after Power spun out just inches away from Hunter-Reay in the opening laps of the race. Carpenter edged Dario Franchitti for his 2nd ever win.
13. 2011 Kentucky Indy 300, Kentucky Speedway- Winner: Ed Carpenter. Carpenter and Franchitti battled at the front of a pack race and were side by side for pretty much every lap towards the end of the race. Carpenter got Franchitti by a nose to take home his 1st career victory.
12. 2011 Iowa Corn Indy 250, Iowa Speedway- Winner: Marco Andretti. Marco Andretti held off Tony Kanaan in a fierce battle in the closing laps of the race. It was Marco’s 2nd win of his career, first since 2006, but he has yet to win since.
11. 2010 Peak Antifreeze 300, Chicagoland Speedway- Winner: Dario Franchitti. Franchitti took a gamble late to pit for tires, because he knew it was the only way he’d be competitive after running towards the middle of the pack all race. It paid off, and he won the race in a 3-wide finish with Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti.
-Asher Fair
SportsPress 