Sunday of Memorial Day weekend is the biggest day in auto racing. First up is the 97th running of the Indianapolis 500. Brazilian Tony Kanaan won his first Indy 500 on his 12th try. Kanaan had previously finished second and has two third place finishes. 21-year-old rookie Carlos Munoz of Colombia finished in second place, while defending IndyCar series champion, Ryan Hunter-Reay of the United States finished third.
This was a record-breaking day at the Indy 500 in a few ways. The average speed of the race was a record, 187.433 mph. The other record broken on Sunday, was actually doubled. This was the number of lead changes in the race. An astounding 68 lead changes, shatters last year’s record of 34 lead changes at the Indy 500. The only problem I had with the race is finishing under caution. It’s a race, not follow the pace car to the checkered flag. They should have at least 1 final racing lap to determine a race winner.
The Andrettis had a good day, but another close but no cigar for their family. Their drivers finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Marco Andretti, the grandson of Mario, and son of Michael, finished in 4th place. For almost all of the last 50 years, an Andretti has been in the Indy 500 field, but they have only have Mario’s 1969 win to show for the family’s winning accomplishments at Indianapolis.
Later in the day, was the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Kevin Harvick was the winner, but that wasn’t the main story of this race. On lap 121, a nylon rope from a Fox Sports overhead camera fell into the grandstands, and partly onto the track. Ten fans were injured, and three were taken to the hospital as a result. The race was stopped for almost 30 minutes, to clear up the situation. The cable was run over by race leader Kyle Busch, which tore up the front right fender of his car, and damage also occurred to a few other cars.
Harvick’s win was his second of the six race old Sprint Cup season. It improved his place in the overall standings from 10th up to 7th place. Jimmie Johnson remains the leader in points, even after a 22nd finish on Sunday. His lead is now 32 points over Carl Edwards, who finished 11th in the race. Kasey Kahne, who finished 2nd in the race, is now 3rd in points, 51 behind Johnson. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who blew an engine, finished 39th, which dropped him 2 spots in the standings, down to 6th.
Normally during a red flag situation, pit crews aren’t allowed to work on their cars, but
NASCAR did allow those cars damaged by the fallen cable, to fix the effects of the mishap on their respective cars. This was the fair judgment to make in this case. It’s not like that was a normal part of a race, or was caused by a driver or his pit crew.
Crashes took out many of the big-name drivers during the race. One three car accident took out defending champion Brad Keselowski, Danica Patrick, and her boyfriend, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Another crash eliminated Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, and Aric Almirola from contention, as they raced three cars wide. Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, and Juan Pablo Montoya were also involved in their own three car wreck. The Coca Cola 600 is the longest race on the Sprint Cup season. Harvick avoided trouble, including TV cables, and passed Kahne with 11 laps remaining, then held on to win the race.
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