Alex Barron won the fastest race in IndyCar Series history with an average speed of 180.917 mph in the Firestone Indy 400 at Michigan International Speedway July 27.
Barron, driver of the No. 21 Hollywood Mo Nunn Racing Panoz G Force/Toyota/Firestone, won the fourth-closest finish in Indy Racing League history by edging Sam Hornish Jr. by 0.0121 seconds. Barron is in his second race with Mo Nunn Racing, substituting for the injured Felipe Giaffone, who suffered injuries during the Kansas Indy 300 on July 6. This is Barros second-career IndyCar Series victory. The first for the Menifee, Calif., resident came last year at Nashville Superspeedway.
Hornish, driver of the No. 4 Pennzoil Panther Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone car, led the most laps with 126, including 21 of the final 30. But Barron led the final lap, taking the lead coming out of turn four and beating Hornish by a nose at the finish line.
The final 30 laps resulted in a seven-car sprint to the finish between Barron, Hornish, Tomas Scheckter, Scott Sharp, Scott Dixon, Tora Takagi and Gil de Ferran.
On Lap 164, Barron and Scheckter touched coming out of Turn 4, causing Barron to spin. He was able to keep the car off the wall, and he rejoined the hunt after the incident brought out a yellow. It was one of only four cautions on the day. With 36 laps remaining following the yellow, Barron restarted in sixth place.
Is not the first time a driver has brought out a yellow and gone onto win the race. In the 1998 Indianapolis 500, Eddie Cheever Jr. did a quarter-spin to the left in Turn 1 on Lap 1, trying to avoid J.J. Yeley, who had spun in front of him. Cheever went on to win the event.
Hornish, racing the new Gen IV Chevy Indy V-8 engine, has been a part of six of the 10 closest finishes in IndyCar Series history. Hs won four and finished second in two of them.
With his fifth-place finish, Dixon is the new points leader after Tony Kanaan, driving the No. 11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone, dropped out on lap 160 with engine problems. Dixon now holds a one-point lead over Kanaan, 318-317. De Ferran is third with 315 points.
