Dario Franchitti won his second Indianapolis 500 on Sunday while Chip Ganassi made some history of his own, becoming just the first owner to win the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500 (NASCAR) in the same year.
His wife, Ashley Judd, was in attendance cheering for him. Franchitti had to cross the finish under a caution flag due to a nasty crash that involved Mike Conway and Ryan Hunter-Reay. Many drivers, including last year’s winner Helio Castroneves, had to pit for fuel late in the race, allowing Franchitti to take the lead permanently. He then spoke to the media about his big win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“It’s just as good the second time,” said Franchitti, who won his first Indy 500 in 2007. It was Jamie McMurray, a member of Ganassi’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team, who won the Daytona 500 back in February.
Danica Patrick came in fifth place after struggling for much of the race.
This year’s Indianapolis 500 was made a little more interesting by the fact that each driver got to use the new “push to pass” button 15 times.
The button was first used in races back in August. At Indy, the boosts equated to 18 seconds of additional horsepower. Drivers had to wait at least 10 seconds before pushing the button again.
Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, the 2008 Indy 500 winner, is already lobbying for more boosts.
“It would be nice to have more [than 15], I think, just to make the racing better throughout the day,” he said.
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