Saturday
Pit Lane Incident with Danica Patrick Ends Panther’s Day in 21st Place
Press Release
Wheldon had been battling with another Andretti Green Racing driver, Hideki Mutoh, for seventh position when he pitted on Lap 149 for what would have been his final stop of the day. As he exited the National Guard pit box, he made contact with Danica’s No. 7 car – which was entering its box a few stalls ahead. The Panther crew made repairs to the No. 4 car and sent Wheldon out for one more lap, but the damage was too significant to safely continue in the race.
The finish drops Wheldon to tenth in the final championship standings, after a thrilling race concluded with Dario Franchitti as the 2009 IndyCar Champion. The race looked to be a victory for either Team Penske driver Ryan Briscoe or Ganassi Racing pilot Scott Dixon, but both competitors had to make an additional pit stop for fuel, which gave the race victory to Franchitti – who had run in third place for most of the event.
Wheldon concluded the season with a total of three Top Five and nine Top Ten finishes, with a best finish of second place in the 93rd Running of the Indianapolis 500.
“The National Guard car was very well balanced at the start and we moved to the front very quickly. We were being pretty aggressive in terms of trying to get to the front as quick as possible. Once it settled down I got into fifth and I had just a little bit too much understeer to stay there and dropped back a little bit and was fighting with Hideki Mutoh for seventh. (On the pit incident with Danica) It was one of those things, and unfortunate for everybody on the National Guard Panther Racing team, but in a lot of ways it sums up the luck we’ve had this season.”
- Panther Racing Press Release
Article Tags: Andretti Green Racing, Dan Wheldon, Danica Patrick, Dario Franchitti, Firestone Indy 300., Ganassi Racing, Hideki Mutoh, Indianapolis 500, IndyCar Series, National Guard Panther Racing, Panther Racing, Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon, Team Penske
