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Kanaan Captures 6th IRL Victory; Patrick Finishes 2nd

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By The Associated Press

Published: September 3, 2007

Updated: 09/03/2007 12:55 am

DETROIT - Tony Kanaan was doubly lucky, Danica Patrick had her best finish at second and the IndyCar Series is headed for a wild finale after Sunday's Detroit Indy Grand Prix.

Kanaan stayed on the track during a late series of pit stops and remained ahead of a last-lap melee to claim his series-best sixth victory of the season and 12th of his career.

The Brazilian, who has won three of the last four series races, kept his championship hopes alive heading into next Sunday's series finale at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.

'It was a weird race,' Kanaan said. 'The yellow came out at the right time, so it was good to stay in the front.'

The crash, which started when Buddy Rice ran out of fuel with seconds to go, collected series points leader Scott Dixon and Kanaan's Andretti Green Racing teammate, Dario Franchitti.

AGR co-owner Michael Andretti told a TV crew he thought Dixon intentionally collected Franchitti, a charge the Scot dismissed.

'How would that be intentional?' Dixon said. 'If I'd have kept going I would've picked up five points on the guy.

'I had no control of the car. It was spun out.'

Rice took responsibility for the crash after the race and Franchitti didn't seem to think Dixon was trying to keep him from getting ahead.

'Some people think it was intentional,' the Indianapolis 500 champion said. 'Scott has raced me clean all year and I have raced him cleanly.'

Despite the crash, which dropped Franchitti from fourth to sixth, he ended the day three points ahead of Dixon. Kanaan, 39 points behind his teammate, remains mathematically alive in the championship hunt.

WILSON WINS FIRST RACE: Justin Wilson won the Champ Car's Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday, holding off Jan Heylen of Belgium to clinch his first race of the season in Assen, Netherlands.
Bruno Junqueira was third.

'We just did what we had to do,' Wilson said. 'With the car working well, it was exciting to be out there.'

Sebastien Bourdais' hopes of clinching a fourth straight title were hampered after a poor start forced him to drop from pole position. It was the Frenchman's first loss in four races in Europe.

Bourdais, who finished seventh, still has a 58-point lead over Wilson heading into the next race on Oct. 21 in Surfers Paradise, Australia.

'It's just frustrating. It was a weird race, it never quite got going for us,' said Bourdais, who won from the pole last weekend at Zolder.

Wilson overtook Bourdais, a St. Petersburg resident, on the first turn and kept his lead through the first round of pit stops.

NHRA: Jeff Arend led qualifying in Funny Car and Max Naylor was tops in Pro Stock on Sunday at the U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Clermont, Ind.

Top Fuel leader Tony Schumacher and Pro Stock motorcycle racer Chip Ellis also led their events. John Force and Warren Johnson, the winningest drivers in NHRA history, failed to make the cut. Top Fuel contenders Whit Bazemore and J.R. Todd also failed to qualify.

Arend led qualifying for the first time in 79 career tries with a time of 4.754 seconds at 327.51 mph. Ashley Force was second, matching her best qualifying effort with a 4.754 at 309.70 mph.

Naylor's first attempt of 6.655 at 206.39 mph was his best of the weekend, edging Jim Yates' 6.658 at 206.42.

BUSCH RACE: Jeff Burton turned a late pit stop and fresh tires into a NASCAR Busch Series win late Saturday night at California Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

He passed Kyle Busch for the lead eight laps from the end of the Camping World 300 and pulled away to win by 2.859 seconds - about 12 car-lengths - as Busch barely held off pole-winner Denny Hamlin for second place.

Runaway series points leader Carl Edwards, who went into the night leading David Reutimann by 690 points, was running in the top 10 until he was involved in a late crash. Edwards finished 25th and now leads new runner-up Harvick by 654 points.

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