Castroneves dominates at Motegi

Castroneves led all but 15 of the 200 laps Saturday and pulled away from Dan Wheldon in the late stages to win the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi, the second consecutive win for the 30-year-old Brazilian and a loud statement heading into the 90th running of the Indianapolis 500 next month.

"We were fast from the very start this week, which is good because there wasn't a lot of practice time," Castroneves said.

"But today was perfect, and the car was perfect, too. I said yesterday that I wanted to finish where we started, and I don't think it was ever in question. We were fast all day."

Castroneves and his No. 3 Marlboro Team Penske Honda/Dallara lost the lead briefly to Wheldon early in the race and during two green-flag pit stops later in the race.

Otherwise, he stayed ahead of challenges from both Target Chip Ganassi drivers - Wheldon and Scott Dixon - during the second half of the race. After a restart with 33 laps remaining, Castroneves roared away from Wheldon to win by 6.3851 seconds.

"It's a reasonable result from a points standpoint," Wheldon said. "I just didn't have enough for Helio. At some points of the race I was very, very quick, and just tailed off at other points."

Tony Kanaan finished third in the No. 11 Andretti Green Racing Honda/Dallara, followed by Castroneves' teammate, Sam Hornish Jr. in the No. 6 Penske Honda/Dallara. Buddy Rice rounded out the top five in the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Racing Honda/Panoz.

Bryan Herta finished sixth, followed by Kosuke Matsuura, Danica Patrick, Dixon and Vitor Meira.

The race began ominously, with two multi-car crashes in the first 42 laps. Moments after Wheldon passed Castroneves for the lead on the 25th lap, Tomas Enge and Ed Carpenter tangled in Turn 4. Neither driver was injured, but both cars were badly damaged.

On the ensuing restart, Scott Sharp's car spun in Turn 4, collecting Jeff Simmons and P.J. Chesson. Simmons' No. 17 Rahal Letterman Racing Honda/Panoz barrel-rolled down the frontstretch and landed on its wheels. Simmons climbed from the wreckage without assistance.

Castroneves, who had regained the lead with a quick pit stop during the yellow flag, held it to the finish for all but two cycles through pit stops under green. Dixon pulled alongside Castroneves briefly on the 140th lap, but couldn't make the pass.

Nine laps later, Dixon's No. 9 TCGR Honda/Dallara stalled during a pit stop, dropping him out of the top 10.

Dario Franchitti, who raced among the top five for most of the event, also encountered problems during the same green-flag sequence of pit stops when his car struck two members of his crew. Word on their condition was not immediately available. Franchitti fell a lap behind and finished 11th.

For Castroneves, the win was the eighth of his IRL IndyCar Series career and second in less than three weeks. He won the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on April 2, one week after finishing second behind Wheldon in the season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"What a team, what a team," Castroneves said. "These guys are unbelievable."

Pos  Driver             Team                   Chassis  Laps
 1.  Helio Castroneves  Penske                 Dallara   200 laps
 2.  Dan Wheldon        Ganassi                Dallara  +  6.3851
 3.  Tony Kanaan        Andretti-Green         Dallara  +  8.6163
 4.  Sam Hornish Jr     Penske                 Dallara  +  9.0011
 5.  Buddy Rice         Rahal-Letterman        Panoz    +  9.7491
 6.  Bryan Herta        Andretti-Green         Dallara  + 13.8972
 7.  Kosuke Matsuura    Super Aguri Fernandez  Dallara  + 14.7633
 8.  Danica Patrick     Rahal-Letterman        Panoz    + 15.4456
 9.  Scott Dixon        Ganassi                Dallara  +  1 lap 
10.  Vitor Meira        Panther                Dallara  +  1 lap 
11.  Dario Franchitti   Andretti-Green         Dallara  +  1 lap 
12.  Marco Andretti     Andretti-Green         Dallara  +  1 lap 
13.  Tomas Scheckter    Vision                 Dallara  +  4 laps
14.  Buddy Lazier       Dreyer and Reinbold    Dallara  +  5 laps
15.  Felipe Giaffone    AJ Foyt                Dallara  + 45 laps
16.  Scott Sharp        Fernandez              Dallara  +158 laps
17.  PJ Chesson         Hemelgarn              Dallara  +160 laps
18.  Jeff Simmons       Rahal-Letterman        Panoz    +160 laps
19.  Tomas Enge         Cheever                Dallara  +175 laps
20.  Ed Carpenter       Vision                 Dallara  +175 laps