Fuel mileage wasn’t a concern to Buddy Rice in the closing laps of the Michigan Indy 400 on Aug. 1. He would push to the finish line on fumes if needed.
Rice and other cars in the lead pack pitted on Lap 158 of the 200-lap race, and with the pace they were setting - the 182.123 mph average speed was the fourth-fastest in IRL IndyCar® Series history - fuel consumption was a concern late in the race.
But in another classic IndyCar Series duel on the two-mile D-shaped Michigan International Speedway oval, Rice poured it on the final 10 laps and beat IndyCar Series points leader Tony Kanaan to the line by 0.0796 of a second - the third-closest finish in 10 races this season.
It was the third victory of the season for Rice, who was runner-up to Dario Franchitti the previous week at The Milwaukee Mile. Kanaan, the pole sitter in the No. 11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone, led 183 laps.
Rice took the lead on Lap 190 and they dueled the final 10 laps, racing side by side on portions of Laps 198 and 199, before Rice made the final move. The race was reminiscent of last year’s event at MIS, in which Alex Barron and Sam Hornish Jr. played cat and mouse the final 10 laps before Barron took the lead exiting Turn 4 on the final lap to pull out the victory.
Kanaan’s Andretti Green Racing teammate Dan Wheldon was third and Marlboro Team Penske’s Sam Hornish Jr. fourth. Vitor Meira, Rice’s Rahal Letterman Racing teammate, finished fifth.
“We knew it was going to be a long race, it was going to be a mental race,” said Rice, who closed to 57 points of Kanaan in the standings. “We had worked on a lot of full-tanks (laps). We didn’t concentrate nearly as hard on our qualifying setup as we have in the past because we knew how long we were going to be in big packs. So we wanted to make sure we were super strong as we were at Indy and some of these other places we have been. We weren’t overly concerned with qualifying.
“But I think it worked out. We knew Tony was going to be strong. We were just going to have to wait and see how it was going to play out in the last 20 laps. Obviously, it came down to a bit of a fuel race. We obviously had saved more than he had. When it came down to it and we needed to run full rich, we were able to go and run up front and drive away.”
Rice, who started sixth in the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Racing Panoz G Force/Honda/Firestone, moved to second by Lap 15 and remained within reach of Kanaan the ensuing laps. On Lap 181, he was 0.0927 of a second behind. On Lap 190, Rice made the pass and led across the line by 0.4679 of a second.
“The race ended up a fuel mileage race, which I’m really not happy about it,” said Kanaan, who has led twice as many laps as any other driver this season. “If I had won the race, I would be happy. It is the way it is. But racing shouldn’t be about fuel mileage. It should be about racing. You should be able to race to the end.
“But I don’t think it’s anybody’s fault. We kept it green for so long. Everybody stayed out of trouble, which was awesome. It was just one of those days.”
Wheldon, the 2003 Bombardier Rookie of the Year who has two victories this season in the No. 26 Klein Tools/Jim Beam Dallara/Honda/Firestone, started eighth and closed strong.
“Anybody that says the Indy Racing League is not the best championship in the world is a complete idiot in my book,” Wheldon said. “I think that race was very, very fast. I think from a driver’s standpoint, it was intense. There was a lot of side-by-side (racing). Actually, there was a lot of racing three abreast.
“I think from our standpoint, I was just a little bit off Tony and Buddy’s pace, so it made it difficult for me. But nonetheless, I think it was a good result from the Klein Tools Jim Beam car. It was a reasonable result. Obviously, the two that I needed to beat finished in front of me, so from that standpoint it’s kind of disappointing. But I’m more disappointed that the team didn’t secure another win.”
Hornish is looking for his second victory of the season - and the second for Marlboro Team Penske. He started fourth after a qualifying lap of 214.179 mph.
“If you did 400 miles around this track by yourself, you wouldn’t even sweat at all,” said Hornish, the two-time IndyCar Series champion who needs 17 laps led to reach 2,000 in his career. “But let me tell you, I was cringing during about three-quarters of the laps around here. It’s the way people are running so hard, pushing the limit, trying to gain a little bit of an advantage. The biggest advantage you can gain at any of these tracks is the pit stops, and the Marlboro Team Penske guys have been doing an awesome job at that this year, and we’ve had good handling race cars.”
Hornish was in the mix until Lap 195, when the No. 6 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Toyota/Firestone fell off the pace.
“The fuel was a little bit tight,” said Hornish, who won the season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “That probably hurt us a little bit, because if we didn’t have to worry about the fuel we would have been able to run right behind Tony and Buddy and maybe checked out from the rest of these guys.”
