Rahal critical of final restart move

Kanaan had led the race until he bent his right-front suspension in a brush with Ernesto Viso's spinning car on lap 193. Although Kanaan's Dallara-Honda had only three functioning wheels, the Brazilian stay on track in case the subsequent yellow lasted until the chequered flag.

But the debris was cleared in time for racing to resume, so Kanaan pulled aside at the green.

However, RLR team owner Bobby Rahal believes Kanaan's actions caused confusion in the pack, and led to his driver Ryan Hunter-Reay falling from fifth to seventh.

"He got really hosed at the end on that ridiculous restart," Rahal said. "Everybody was going and they all stopped, they all just about fell over each other.

"They should never have allowed Tony to lead the restart with a damaged car, that's just crazy. Unfortunately everybody got tripped up and we really suffered for it."

Hunter-Reay said he was caught out as the field suddenly slowed again as Kanaan moved aside.

"From where I was, it was green, the leaders were going, and all of a sudden everyone just checked up and I nearly got in the wall," he said.

"It ruined my race. We go over and over and over it in the drivers' meeting - you can't check up once you've started. This is oval racing, not road course racing. You can't do that type of stuff. I didn't know what was up with Tony's car."

But despite his frustration at the way the race ended, Rahal was very satisfied with Hunter-Reay's form at Homestead.

"We weren't very good here a year ago and this is about a 180 degree turnaround," he said. "Even though we're disappointed to be seventh, I'm really pleased with the performance of Ryan and the car."