Wheldon Wins at Motegi
Dan Wheldon won his second consecutive race at Twin Ring Motegi after a late-race drama for Tomas Scheckter allowed Wheldon through to win the Japan Indy 300
Scheckter was leading the race in the closing laps but with three laps remaining he ran out of fuel, gifting the lead to Wheldon. Ironically, Wheldon ran out of fuel on his victory lap after he took the win, while Scheckter finished two laps down in tenth place.
Letterman Rahal teammates Buddy Rice and Danica Patrick filled the next two places, Patrick showing her front row qualifying performance was no fluke, with Bryan Herta in fifth. It was a Honda day at Honda's own track, the Japanese marque powering the first six finishers.
After his crash in qualifying, Tomas Enge failed to start the race. Two other drivers didn't last much longer, with rookie Jeff Bucknum spinning on the first lap and collecting Scott Dixon. Both drivers visited and were released from the infield care center.
Wheldon's win extends his points lead over Andretti Green teammate Tony Kanaan to 46 points, with Penske's Sam Hornish seven points behind Kanaan. Bryan Herta and Helio Castroneves are the only two other drivers with more than 100 points to their name.
Result of Japan Indy 300, Twin Ring Motegi:Pos Driver Car Laps 1. Dan Wheldon Dallara-Honda 200 2. Scott Sharp Panoz-Honda 200 3. Buddy Rice Panoz-Honda 200 4. Danica Patrick Panoz-Honda 200 5. Bryan Herta Dallara-Honda 200 6. Tony Kanaan Dallara-Honda 199 7. Sam Hornish Jr Dallara-Toyota 199 8. Darren Manning Panoz-Toyota 199 9. Kosuke Matsuura Panoz-Honda 199 10. Tomas Scheckter Dallara-Chevrolet 198 11. Helio Castroneves Dallara-Toyota 198 12. Ryan Briscoe Panoz-Toyota 197 13. Patrick Carpentier Dallara-Toyota 196 14. A.J. Foyt IV Dallara-Toyota 196 15. Vitor Meira Panoz-Honda 166 16. Ed Carpenter Dallara-Toyota 136 17. Dario Franchitti Dallara-Honda 123 18. Roger Yasukawa Dallara-Honda 112 19. Alex Barron Dallara-Toyota 57 20. Paul Dana Dallara-Toyota 56 21. Scott Dixon Dallara-Toyota 0 22. Jeff Bucknum Dallara-Honda 0 23. Tomas Enge Dallara-Chevrolet DNS
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