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Record Fifth Win for Wheldon

Points leader Dan Wheldon increased his lead over Sam Hornish Jr. as well as tied his record of wins in a single season, taking his fifth victory today at Pikes Peak International Raceway

This was Wheldon's first victory since winning the Indianapolis 500 in May.

Wheldon took the lead on lap 164 in the 225-lap race at Colorado Springs, after Andretti Green Racing teammate Dario Franchitti, who was in the lead at that point, stalled in the pits. Franchitti, winner of last year's race, finished in seventh place.

Wheldon's rival Hornish finished second, with and reigning IRL Champion Tony Kanaan in third. Pole-sitter Helio Castroneves was fourth.

The race was surpisingly eventless, with only one caution flag coming out on lap 80, as rookie Ryan Briscoe crashed his Chip Ganassi Racing #33 into the wall at Turn Four. He was uninjured.

"I had just done my pitstop and the car felt really good," the Australian said. "I did a quick lap and then I went through [turns] One and Two and at the exit there was a strange moment. It felt like the tyre pressure came down on me and in Turn Three I was in fourth gear and the rear just came out on me. So it felt like it was tire pressure or something like that."

Vitor Meira finished fifth, with Tomas Enge in seventh and Danica Patrick in eighth.

Pos  Driver              Make-Engine      Laps
 1.  Dan Wheldon         Dallara-Honda    225
 2.  Sam Hornish Jr.     Dallara-Toyota   225
 3.  Tony Kanaan         Dallara-Honda    225
 4.  Helio Castroneves   Dallara-Toyota   224
 5.  Vitor Meira         Panoz-Honda      224
 6.  Tomas Enge          Dallara-Chevy    224
 7.  Dario Franchitti    Dallara-Honda    224
 8.  Danica Patrick      Panoz-Honda      223
 9.  Scott Sharp         Panoz-Honda      222
10.  Patrick Carpentier  Dallara-Toyota   222
11.  Buddy Rice          Panoz-Honda      222
12.  Bryan Herta         Dallara-Honda    222
13.  Kosuke Matsuura     Panoz-Honda      222
14.  Tomas Scheckter     Dallara-Chevy    221
15.  Roger Yasukawa      Dallara-Honda    220
16.  Scott Dixon         Panoz-Toyota     220
17.  Jimmy Kite          Dallara-Toyota   219
18.  Alex Barron         Dallara-Toyota   219
19.  Ed Carpenter        Dallara-Toyota   216
20.  Ryan Briscoe        Panoz-Toyota      76
21.  A.J. Foyt IV        Dallara-Chevy     38
22.  Jaques Lazier       Panoz-Toyota       -

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