Indianapolis 500 Live Blog–Ryan Hunter-Reay Wins
” 3:17 p.m.: It’s Ryan Hunter-Reay taking the checkers by less than a car length over Helio Castroneves, who had passed him on the outside in Turn One with two laps to go. Hunter-Reay passed Castroneves on the outside during the final lap entering Turn One and held on to win by .3171 of a second. Marco Andretti was third, Carlos Munoz fourth and Juan Pablo Montoya fifth.
3:15 p.m.: The race will restart on lap 195, six laps to the checkered. What are the chances for another caution that would end the race? The situation seems likely. Castroneves, Andretti and Montoya will all be willing to take big risks to win.”
” 3:09 p.m.: With less than 10 laps to go, Ryan Hunter-Reay could become the first American to win the Indy 500 since Sam Hornish, Jr. in 2006. Helio Castroneves would join A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears in the exclusive four-time winners club. Marco Andretti would give his family, which has suffered for so long at Indianapolis, its second victory at Indy. Grandpa Mario won in 1969 and came close many times after that. Father Michael, his car owner, always had the speed to lead, but was never able to close the deal. In 1992, Michael dominated the race and had a mechanical failure in the final 30 laps. His brother Jeff crashed hard that day and suffered two severely broken feet, which ended his career. Mario crashed that day and also had to take the trip to Methodist Hospital. After he fell out, Michael said, “This is such a cruel, cruel place.” The so-called Andretti curse was mitigated by Dan Wheldon’s win in 2005 and Dario Franchitti’s in 2007 while driving for owner Michael, but only a victory by Marco will completely remove it.
3:01 p.m.: Townsend Bell’s bid for an Indy 500 victory ended in a crash and the red flag has come out because of debris. The field will stop on pit lane. Nine laps remain. Ryan Hunter-Reay leads, Helio Castroneves second, Marco Andretti third, Carlos Munoz fourth, Juan Pablo Montoya fifth, Kurt Busch sixth, Sebastien Bourdais seventh, Justin Wilson eighth, Ryan Briscoe ninth and Will Power tenth. Briscoe has made a great comeback from going down a lap down early in the race.
2:56 p.m.: Red flag is out. Too much debris on the track from Townsend Bell’s wreck in Turn Two… “
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