ED CARPENTER, WINNER OF THE SEASON FINAL
Dario Franchitti held the lead heading into the final lap, but a daring pass by Ed Carpenter shot the owner/driver to the front. A crash by Takuma Sato on the last lap secured Carpenter's second career victory after the American led a race-high 62 laps. So, that left Ed Carpenter the winner, Dario Franchitti in second and Scott Dixon in Third.
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, THE CHAMPION
Since this was the final race of the season it was also the season championship race. Going into the race it was Will Power against Ryan Hunter-Reay. Hunter-Reay, who came out of nowhere in the last few races, to challenge the championship. Power, who led the championship by 17 points, qualified in 12th, but had a five place penalty because of an engine change. Hunter-Reay qualified in 17th and also picking up a five place penalty for the same reason. It makes sense to me to make an engine change and take the penalty and get a fresh engine. Especially for the championship. Both drivers had to be a little up tight with how far back in the field they were, but it is a 500 mile race and anything can happen. And happen, it did.
Power went out on lap 55 with an accident which put Hunter-Reay in the limelight. In order to win Hunter-Reay had to finish 6th or better. Power was able to get out later for a short time forcing Hunter-Reay to now be 5th or better. A tall order. Hunter-Reay was able to get into 4th and hang on to it for the championship.
I always feel bad for the winner of a race that also decides the championship because that winner ends up being like an ‘also ran.’ You can’t take anything away from Ed Carpenter…this is his first year as an owner/driver and what a job he did.
A couple of interesting things happened before the race and during the race. On Wednesday, Mike Conway, decided that he wasn’t comfortable with oval racing anymore. Two years ago, as shown in this blog, Conway had a terrible accident on the last lap of the Indy 500. After a year recovery period he crashed there again this year. There has been a lot of thought about the oval tracks over the years. Certainly Indy is the biggest race in the U.S., but the ovals have been disappearing from the schedule. He hopes that someone will keep him on for the road races. A lot of drivers are not comfortable with the ovals, but Mike is the first one to step up and say “no.” The drivers all commend him for doing so. I am willing to bet that the owners don’t feel the same way. We will see what next season brings him….maybe in a different series. He is a good driver and it would be a shame to lose him. The second thing was the red flag after the Tony Kanaan accident. There was nothing different about that type of accident yet they red flagged the field. Maybe they were trying to insure a five lap shoot-out, but they took a big chance of the cars not starting again or losing the settings that they had in the first place. Tony’s car was cleaned up in the usual time and they still would have had at least a two lap shoot-out. I don’t think anyone was happy about it, owners or drivers. It worked out in the end, but it was a big gamble. I would like to know whose idea it was and what was he thinking.
The season is done, time to sit back and have a beer and think about next year.
photo credit: 2012 speedtv.com
