First IRL road win for Castroneves

Castroneves took the lead with six laps remaining when Scott Dixon pitted for a splash of fuel. Dixon was 15 seconds ahead of castroneves when he turned into the pits, but emerged just behind him, and just a few feet ahead of Tony Kanaan.

"I drove it like I stole it," Castroneves said.

That was the order of finish six laps later, when Castroneves' #3 Marlboro Team Penske Honda/Dallara idled to the finish ahead of Dixon's #9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda/Panoz and Kanaan's #11 Andretti Green Racing Honda/Dallara.

Dixon's car rattled through most of the 100-lap race around the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit with a broken front wing, a situation he said most likely cost him the win.

"I saw the thing flapping," Dixon said. "I had no front end. I couldn't get close enough to a car to get a run on them. Without that, I really think we could have won today."

Kanaan, meanwhile, admitted that he probably didn't have a car capable of winning. "I was driving the wheels off, but I couldn't pass anyone," Kanaan said. "I tried to catch those guys, but once I caught them, I couldn't pass anybody."

Bryan Herta finished fourth, while Vitor Meira came home fifth.

Castroneves did not finish any of the IRL's road-course and street races last year in its first venture into the genre, going a disappointing 0-for-3 at St. Pete, Watkins Glen and Infineon Raceway.

Pole winner Dario Franchitti, who set a track record in qualifying on Saturday, led the first 14 laps, but a broken upper ball joint bearing ended his effort.

Pos  Driver             Team                   Chassis  Time
 1.  Helio Castroneves  Penske                 Dallara  100 laps
 2.  Scott Dixon        Ganassi                Panoz    +  0.139
 3.  Tony Kanaan        Andretti-Green         Dallara  +  0.628
 4.  Bryan Herta        Andretti-Green         Dallara  +  0.781
 5.  Vitor Meira        Panther                Dallara  +  2.600
 6.  Danica Patrick     Rahal-Letterman        Panoz    +  3.043
 7.  Kosuke Matsuura    Super Aguri Fernandez  Dallara  + 52.717
 8.  Sam Hornish Jr.    Penske                 Dallara  + 1 lap
 9.  Felipe Giaffone    AJ Foyt                Dallara  + 2 laps
10.  Scott Sharp        Fernandez              Panoz    + 3 laps
11.  Eddie Cheever Jr.  Cheever                Dallara  + 4 laps
12.  Tomas Scheckter    Vision                 Dallara  + 4 laps
13.  Buddy Rice         Rahal-Letterman        Panoz    + 4 laps
14.  Buddy Lazier       Dreyer and Reinbold    Dallara  +41 laps
15.  Marco Andretti     Andretti-Green         Dallara  +42 laps
16.  Dan Wheldon        Ganassi                Panoz    +43 laps
17.  P.J. Chesson       Hemelgarn              Dallara  +45 laps
18.  Roberto Moreno     Vision                 Dallara  +68 laps
19.  Dario Franchitti   Andretti-Green         Dallara  +85 laps