Kanaan lucky to escape penalty
Indy Racing League champion Tony Kanaan was lucky to escape a penalty for his tough tactics in the closing stages of the season-opening event at Homestead two weeks ago, series chiefs admitted on Friday
Speaking ahead of the second round of the series in Phoenix this weekend, IRL president Brian Barnhart revealed that he came close to coming down hard on Kanaan for the manner in which he blocked Sam Hornish Jr. in the closing stages of the Miami event.
Speaking to the Indianapolis Star, Barnhart said: "He was being good at using his half out of the middle of the track. I was fairly close (to intervening), but it's one of those real difficult judgement calls. It was too close for me to get involved."
Barnhart added that he felt justice had been served in the incident when Hornish passed Kanaan at the final turn - netting him second place behind race winner Dan Wheldon.
Kanaan expressed no surprise about how close he had come to being penalised - and revealed in Phoenix that he had left all his phone numbers with Barnhart after the race just in case he needed to talk to him.
"The reality is, we did that to each other the whole race," said Kanaan about his battle with Hornish Jr. "Obviously, we both can't be stupid, but we raced hard."
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