Hunter-Reay scores maiden victory

The Rahal Letterman Racing driver spent most of the race in a comfortable third, chasing the lead battle between Ryan Briscoe and Scott Dixon.

All three found themselves behind AJ Foyt Racing's Darren Manning after the final pitstops, the Briton having leapt to the front by virtue of pitting just before a full course yellow.

Dixon, having pursued Briscoe all race, got ahead of the Penske driver in the last stops and only had Manning between him and a fourth consecutive Watkins Glen victory.

But incredibly Dixon spun while trying to warm his tyres under yellow, leaving Briscoe with no choice but to run into him, dropping both to the tail of the pack.

That left Hunter-Reay free to attack Manning at the next restart, and he duly dived ahead and into a lead he would not lose.

"For something to finally go our way is great," Hunter-Reay said. "It didn't land in our lap; we had to go out there and earn it. Then we just checked out at the end, which was the best. We put an exclamation on the end of that one. It was a beautiful deal."

While Hunter-Reay was celebrating his unexpected win, Dixon was left kicking himself.

"Tell Briscoe I'm sorry," Dixon said over the radio after the incident. "Bloody stupid."

Dixon and Briscoe were able to rejoin and finish 11th and 12th, and the latter was philosophical despite being robbed of a certain podium.

"I can imagine how Scott's feeling right now," Briscoe said. "I guess all of us mess up now and again. I just wish he would have messed up and not gotten me involved."

Hunter-Reay admitted that he too nearly became embroiled in the tangle.

"It was like a scene out of Days of Thunder," Hunter-Reay said. "I couldn't see where they were or where the opening was. I couldn't see any cars, just a dirt cloud. I picked left, and luckily it was open. I got through there, and then I immediately thought, 'This is the point where I get paid back for all the bad luck.'"

His win also ended a miserable winless streak for RLR that lasted more than four years.

"This is vindication," team co-owner Bobby Rahal said. "Some guys who have driven for us in the past said this team doesn't have the will to win. It's all about having the right driver."

Manning held off Tony Kanaan (Andretti Green) for second place, scoring the best finish since he joined AJ Foyt's team two years ago.

"We're a small team," Manning said. "My only teammate is AJ, and he's a tough taskmaster. He sets a high standard. It's extremely difficult by ourselves, but with the resources we have, we're doing pretty well. We validated ourselves with this drive."

Kanaan, who also narrowly avoided the Dixon-Briscoe incident by driving between the stranded cars, says he was as surprised as Dixon to see the embarrassing spin.

"I guess he's human, isn't he?" Kanaan said. "You'd think the guy had superpowers. We kept wondering, 'When is he going to have a bad day?'"

The results benefited Kanaan most, moving him to within 66 points of Dixon in the standings after 10 of 17 races. The other two drivers in the championship battle, Helio Castroneves and Dan Wheldon, also encountered trouble, with Castroneves falling behind early because of an electrical problem and finishing 16th, and Wheldon getting clipped by Manning on the first lap and breaking his rear suspension.

The first 40 laps were otherwise uneventful, with Briscoe leading by a narrow margin over Dixon for most of the way, and Vitor Meira (Panther Racing) appearing in the lead during pitstops having been among the many to stop out of sequence during the early yellow for Castroneves' stranded car.

On the 40th lap, though, Meira was run off course by EJ Viso, leaving the veteran Brazilian fuming and causing Viso to be sent to the tail of the field.

"The IRL should do something about it," Meira said. "He just took us out. He's a guy who's had a problem with every driver out there. It's a shame."

On the ensuing round of pit stops two laps later, Danica Patrick lost control in the pits and slammed into the wall dangerously close to Dixon's crew moments after Dixon had completed his stop. Patrick apologised for the incident, got a new nose wing assembly and eventually finished 14th after a penalty for the mistake.

"I hit a tyre leaving the pit and then locked the car up," Patrick said. "Fortunately I didn't make any contact with anyone."

Further chaos during the same yellow saw Milka Duno and AJ Foyt IV collide and crash out under caution, and Dixon have his fateful spin. Two attempted restarts then swiftly turned back to yellow after separate crashes by Conquest teammates Enrique Bernoldi and Jaime Camara. Bernoldi was treated at the infield care centre for back pain, but X-rays were negative. He will be re-evaluated later this week.

On the final restart, Hunter-Reay pulled away to a large lead and held it to the chequered flag for his first IndyCar Series win and a triumphant reprieve to a promising career that, at this time last year, appeared to have stalled in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

"These things happen for a reason," he said. "I knew I had to stay strong and this is teaching me a lesson. Never be complacent. Always be pushing, as an athlete and a businessman. You've always got to be working it as hard as you can."

Behind Manning and Kanaan, Buddy Rice benefited from a fine strategy by Dreyer & Reinbold to take his best result of the year.

"The last two races we've had stuff falling off the car and I've screwed up," Rice said. "We're just trying to wipe that stuff out, get back in the points and have a solid finish to the season."

Marco Andretti finished fifth for AGR, followed by Dale Coyne duo Bruno Junqueira and Mario Moraes in the small team's best IndyCar race yet, with Graham Rahal (Newman/Haas/Lanigan) and Hideki Mutoh (AGR) coming through from lowly grid positions to take eighth and ninth ahead of the delayed Viso.

Front row starter Justin Wilson was an early retirement with a gearbox issue in the second Newman/Haas/Lanigan car.

Pos  Driver             Team                 Time
 1.  Ryan Hunter-Reay   Rahal Letterman      1:54:01.1795
 2.  Darren Manning     Foyt                    +  2.4009
 3.  Tony Kanaan        Andretti Green          +  4.1054
 4.  Buddy Rice         Dreyer & Reinbold       +  4.8111
 5.  Marco Andretti     Andretti Green          +  5.3132
 6.  Bruno Junqueira    Dale Coyne              +  5.8084
 7.  Mario Moraes       Dale Coyne              +  8.6248
 8.  Graham Rahal       Newman/Haas/Lanigan     +  9.4563
 9.  Hideki Mutoh       Andretti Green          + 10.1785
10.  EJ Viso            HVM                     + 10.8602
11.  Scott Dixon        Ganassi                 + 11.0455
12.  Ryan Briscoe       Penske                  + 11.5953
13.  Mario Dominguez    Pacific Coast           + 12.7773
14.  Danica Patrick     Andretti Green          + 26.6599
15.  Will Power         KV                      + 38.1033
16.  Helio Castroneves  Penske                  +   1 lap
17.  Ed Carpenter       Vision                  +   1 lap
18.  Jaime Camara       Conquest                +  9 laps
19.  AJ Foyt IV         Vision                  + 13 laps
20.  Milka Duno         Dreyer & Reinbold       + 15 laps
21.  Enrique Bernoldi   Conquest                + 16 laps
22.  Vitor Meira        Panther                 + 22 laps
23.  Oriol Servia       KV                      + 22 laps
24.  Dan Wheldon        Ganassi                 + 41 laps
25.  Justin Wilson      Newman/Haas/Lanigan     + 44 laps
26.  Jay Howard         Roth                    + 45 laps