Brazil's Gil de Ferran raced to his second victory of the season, winning the Firestone Indy 200 on Saturday night under a yellow caution flag at Nashville Supers-peedway.
The Indianapolis 500 winner took the lead for the second time on lap 173 while the other leaders pitted during a caution period caused by debris on the track.
He had been trying to stretch his fuel for the final 69 laps after pitting on lap 131, but two cautions in the final six laps caused by Buddy Lazier kept him from having to worry.
The Brazilian cruised in under caution after Lazier brushed the outside wall in Turn 2, bringing out the final yellow flag just as de Ferran was taking the white flag for the final lap.
De Ferran celebrated his fourth IRL title since moving to the series last year by singing "Take me out to the ball game" in Victory Lane. He last sang that song on July 7 at Wrigley Field during the seventh-inning stretch.
He has plenty of reason to celebrate.
De Ferran has piled up the most driver points since missing the race at Motegi, Japan, in April because of a concussion and a couple of cracked vertebra suffered in a brutal crash at Phoenix International Raceway in March. He has five top-three finishes since then. Polesitter Scott Dixon finished second, followed by Helio Castroneves, de Ferran's Penske teammate, and rookie Dan Wheldon.
Defending champion Alex Barron finished fifth as a replacement for Felipe Giaffone, who is in a rehabilitation hospital after breaking a leg and his pelvis in a crash at Kansas on July 6.
De Ferran showed early signs of a strong Toyota-powered car as he led 21 laps early after passing Dixon by dipping inside him going into Turn 1 on lap 14.
The Brazilian led until lap 34 when several drivers hit the pits, and de Ferran was out in just 8.5 seconds and thought he had made it out of the pits ahead of IRL points leader Tony Kanaan. IRL ruled that Kanaan was out first. Team Penske protested, but Kanaan still used that position off the restart to lead 55 laps.
Kanaan lost his lead when finally forced to pit for gas on lap 98.
It didn't take long for trouble on the 2.1km oval where only one line has worn in on the concrete. Robbie Buhl drifted into Scott Sharp's right front tire and hit the wall in Turn 4 on the third lap. Sharp had to pit and get the nose replaced on his Dallara chassis.
"Obviously, I got together with Sharp. I was trying to go by him on the top side. How close things were and what happened, I don't know. We'll have to take a look at the replay. But it was my left rear to his right front tire," said Buhl, who did not finish a race for the fourth time this season.
The scariest moment came on the fifth caution for debris on lap 125. Greg Ray had pitted when flames, easy to see in the night sky, started flashing out of the left rear of his car. Crew members started dousing the car and Ray with water as he struggled to unbuckle himself.
Vitor Meira made the best save of the race on lap 33 when Buddy Rice touched tires, catching Meira's left rear tire. That spun Meira's car, and he skidded sideways into the opening of pit road before somehow managing to stop without hitting anything else. His crew changed his four tires, topped him off and sent him back off.
But Meira had to keep working on his car, and he was knocked out of a race for the third time this year when he brushed the wall in Turn 2 on lap 109.
Sam Hornish, the defending two-time IRL champion, started 20th out of 21 cars a couple hours after IRL officials announced that Chevrolet will introduce a new engine starting with Hornish next week at Michigan.
Hornish didn't look like he needed any help as he worked his way through the field and finally passed Kanaan on lap 97. That allowed him to lead a lap in an IRL race for the first time this season.
A stunning Lamine Yamal strike on Thursday helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win over local rivals RCD Espanyol, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table. Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble. Only the UEFA Champions League title escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2022-2023. Back then,
SSC Napoli will have to wait one more week to seal the Serie A title after on Sunday being held to a goalless draw at Parma, while closest rivals Inter drew 2-2 in a dramatic game with SS Lazio. Antonio Conte’s team stayed one point ahead of Inter and were unfortunate not to win after twice striking the woodwork through Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Matteo Politano, while Scott McTominay also had a free-kick tipped onto the crossbar. The away side thought they would be handed a chance to take the points from the penalty spot in the 96th minute when David Neres
Jannik Sinner on Thursday marched into the semi-finals of the Italian Open after destroying Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, while Coco Gauff won a marathon three-set battle with China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance to the women’s singles final. American Gauff is to face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in today’s title match after pulling through 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a match that lasted over three-and-a-half hours. Ruud was supposed to be Sinner’s toughest test in Rome since he came back from his three-month doping ban, as the Norwegian came into the match in hot form on clay after winning in
Shohei Ohtani on Thursday delivered his first two-homer game of the season and had six RBIs as the Los Angeles Dodgers poured it on with five long balls in a 19-2 victory over the visiting Athletics. Max Muncy, Andy Pages and James Outman also hit home runs for the Dodgers, who left no doubt by taking a 13-2 lead following a seven-run third inning. Muncy and Kim Hye-seong each had three hits for Los Angeles. Dodgers right-hander Matt Sauer led off a bullpen game by allowing two runs in four innings. Left-hander Justin Wrobleski (1-1) finished with four scoreless innings after he
RSS