Full Throttle

Sam Hornish Jr. captured Sunday’s A.J. Foyt 225 [avatar:http://cranialcavity.net/files/irl.png]IndyCar[/avatar] event at the historic Milwaukee Mile. The No.6 Penske driver crossed the finish line 0.383 seconds ahead of runner-up Dario Franchitti.

The victory was Hornish Jr.’s second of the season and 14th of his career. Tomas Scheckter, Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon completed the top-five.

Series points leader Dan Wheldon - currently being courted by both NASCAR and F1 teams - questioned his team’s strategy Sunday after finishing fifth. Andretti Green Racing teammates Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan stayed on track when the other leaders, including Wheldon and eventual race winner Sam Hornish Jr. pitted on lap 170 of the 225-lap race, trading a gamble on fuel for track position.

“I’m not sure about the call we made,” “I’m not blaming anybody, but I’m not sure that we thought properly about it.” - Dan Wheldon

“I’m not sure about the call we made,” said Wheldon, who won four of the first five races this season, including the Indianapolis 500, and has now gone five in a row without winning. “I’m not blaming anybody, but I’m not sure that we thought properly about it.”

“When you know your two teammates are staying out, who can stay out and control the pace of the race and save the amount of fuel that you need to, and we didn’t do that. It’s very, very difficult and I think we should learned this from practice.”

What was a comfortable lead in the season standings has shrunk to just 68 points over Hornish and Franchitti, tied for second. Kanaan, the defending series champion, is fourth, 71 points behind his teammate.

Rookie Danica Patrick finished 16th after crashing into the wall on lap 125. She was taken to the hospital, but was not injured.

It was another lightly attended IRL event as the announced attendance was 28,592, although there appeared to be fewer people in the grandstands.