Race Reaction from Texas Motor Speedway

The IndyCar Series completed their sixth race of the season on Saturday, with 2009 Indy 500 Champion Helio Castroneves capturing his second win of the 2009 season. IndyCar Garage breaks down five race reactions from Texas Motor Speedway.

1. We have a new leader in the point’s championship – Ryan Briscoe

Briscoe lead a race high 160 laps, and at one point had 11 second lead over the second place car. He lost a pit-stop battle to Helio with about forty laps to go and ultimately cost him the race. Brisco still leaves Texas knowing that he is now in first place in the points. If the first six races of the season are any indication of where the point’s championship will land, it will be between the Ganassi and Penske cars.

2. AGR gets back in the mix... well kinda of

The four AGR cars had an eventful day as they landed three out of the four in the top ten. Marco Andretti finished a season high fourth and made a race charge that saw him in second place at one point during the race. Danica Patrick ran in the top ten throughout the entire race, but her racing was the topic of conversation with Marco after the race. Tony Kannan came back from one lap down and salvaged an eighth place finish, after the race TK said he wanted to roast the car because it was that bad. Hideki Mutoh had mechanical problems and registered his first DNF of the season. After the race, Marco said the hardest problem he had the entire race was trying to pass his teammate, Patrick. Danica said Marco made a great pass and that she was just racing her style, Kannan stepped in and played the peace maker role. TK said the AGR teammates would sort it out over lunch after everyone had calmed down. What we can all wish for is that one of the AGR cars fends off the Penske/Ganassi monopoly and gets onto the podium and into victory lane.

3. The Car Count of 24 cars lasts for one lap.

Graham Rahal did his best to hold on to a horrible car on the first lap, but to no avail he got tangled with E.J. Viso and collected poor Milka Duno in the process. This created multiple problems, first, it knocked out one of the bright young American drivers that fans can identify. Second, it immediately knocked out three cars of 24 car field. Third and lastly, it marked the second race out of the last three that the IndyCars couldn’t get one lap in before the caution came out. In one of the most competive tracks on the schedule, it would have been great to see the IndyCars get a fierce twenty to thirty laps in before a caution came out.

4. Sarah Fisher Racing didn’t materialize.

Sarah Fisher came to Texas Motor Speedway for the 10^th anniversary of her depute in the IndyCar series. The results from her race team where uneventful to say the least. She battled bad starting position, along with problems within her race car to finish several laps down. Sarah Fisher is one of the most popular drivers involved with IndyCars, and her success would be great for the series. She continues to be positive and we can only hope that she has more success later in season. She is halfway through her partial schedule for the year, circle the Kentucky race as the one to watch her team as having the best chance at a podium finish.

5. A week off until Iowa and IndyCar Garage will begin it’s countdown of the top ten drivers not in the IndyCar series.

The IndyCar series will return to action Sunday June 21^st at 1 p.m. at Iowa Speedway. During the break in action, IndyCar Garage will begin it’s countdown of the top ten drivers not currently driving full-time in the IndyCar series. The countdown of ten drivers will begin on Monday June 8^th with driver number 10 and conclude Wednesday June 17^th with driver number one. Check IndyCarGarage.com daily for a new driver every day.