IndyCar Racing Goes NASCAR At Chicagoland

It was a wild race for the drivers in the Izod IndyCar race at Chicagoland, best described as "hell" by Tony Kanaan.

If it wasn't for the open-wheel cars, one would have thought they were watching a NASCAR race as the cars ran in a pack often four abreast, drafting one another and bumping tires at speeds in excess of 200 mph.

Will Power led much of the race, but was forced to take two gallons of fuel near the end of the race under green flag conditions, which impacted his points lead.

Dario Franchitti took the win in his No. 10 Ganassi Racing car with an atypical paint job of blue rather than his well known red racer.  Dan Wheldon finished second and Marco Andretti finished third.

Franchitti described the race as being like "restrictor plate racing."  He knows a bit about that from his stint in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series.

Ryan Hunter Reay described the race as "nuts."  Many drivers reacted much the same, saying there would be some hard feelings between the drivers after such chaotic racing especially as they tried to navigate lapped cars.

Milka Duno was the last car running, finishing three laps down and was an obstacle to be dodged by the fast pack of some 12 or 13 cars that ran within a second of the leader.

Danica Patrick seemed to fade a bit when the going got tough toward the front and finished in 14th position.

Sara Fisher was pleased with her performance having led 10 laps and finishing in 15th place.

Will Power exuded disappointment and summed up his feelings by saying, "that's racing."  Power added, "never thought you could race ovals like that."   He lost some 36 points to Dario Franchitti in tonight's race leaving him only 23 points in the lead.

The Peak Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy 300 was indeed an exciting race to watch, perhaps the best they have had all season.  The drivers who were interviewed after the race all agreed it was great for TV, but the fun factor was replaced by some scary fast side-by-side racing for the drivers.

IndyCar racing at Chicagoland would have made a wild NASCAR race had it been with stock cars. It would be great to see that kind of racing more often if it wasn't so dangerous.

Thankfully the race ended without any serious accidents or driver injuries.  Now with three races left this season, the IndyCar drivers move on to Kentucky, Motegi, and Homestead.