|| *Comments on the 2014 Indianapolis 500:* View the most recent comment <#487> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Kenny posted: 05.18.2014 - 4:41 pm Rate this comment: (6) (4) I hope eather Kurt or Marco wins this thing :D 2. We need more Onion posted: 05.18.2014 - 5:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Carpenter is the fastest again. He really made his team competitive, as Conway can constantly run up front on road and street courses, while Ed has always done well on ovals. Anyway, NEWGARDEN for the win. 3. Biscuits In A Red Bull posted: 05.18.2014 - 5:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Top Ganassi car? 11th. Wow. 4. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.18.2014 - 5:18 pm Rate this comment: (2) (2) Cheering for Kannan, Montoya, and Ku. Busch for this thing. 5. NicoRosbergFan posted: 05.18.2014 - 7:37 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) Sad news: the great Sir Jack Brabham has passed away at the age of 88 6. numbah10hatah posted: 05.18.2014 - 7:56 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Good to see JR Hildebrand and Townsend Bell back!!! 7. numbah10hatah posted: 05.18.2014 - 7:57 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) And Pippa Mann!! 8. SpeedWorld97 posted: 05.18.2014 - 8:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Sad news: the great Sir Jack Brabham has passed away at the age of 88" Wow this is news to me. He is one of the all time greats in all of racing. May he rest in peace. On a lighter note, if history repeats itself from the past two years, then this should be an AMAZING race next Sunday. Perhaps the greatest 500 ever. I really expect the record of 68 lead changes from last year to be beaten. Also, I don't expect there to be many cautions in this race considering how clean this month of May has been, so the race record set last year could also be beaten. Hopefully though there are no cautions in the last 5 laps that would cause the race to end under yellow again. My prediction to win: Tony Kanaan, Will Power, or Ed Carpenter. Can you imagine the excitement if TK won again or if Indiana native Carpenter would win? 9. SpeedWorld97 posted: 05.18.2014 - 8:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) One more thing; can anyone explain why the speeds are significantly faster this year over the last few years? Does it have to do with the horsepower increase this year, because these are the fastest qualifying speeds at IMS since 2003. According to Twitter the average qualifying speed of the whole field (229 mph) is the fastest in the 105 year history of the Speedway! 10. The Long Shot posted: 05.18.2014 - 9:27 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Very tragic news about Brabham. Hopefully grandson Matthew can win the Indy Lights race to honor him. 11. murb posted: 05.18.2014 - 9:31 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I'm picking Simon Pagenaud. I just have this feeling about him for some reason. He's developed into a really good driver over the past couple years, and on top of that he's got the momentum from the Indy Road Course win. I know he's more of a road course specialist, but I can definitely see it happening for him in the 500. As far as darkhorses go, I'm going with Josef Newgarden, Carlos Munoz, Kurt Busch, and Jack Hawksworth. And as for how I think some of the favorites will fair, I really have no idea. For starters, the Ganassi cars don't look that good. So while I'm not gonna completely count out Dixon and Kanaan, I think it will be a stretch. Andretti's cars look pretty good, but out of them I think RHR may end up being the only real threat. Hinchcliffe is obviously extremely talented, but I'm not sure he's developed into someone who can put himself into position to win the Indy 500 (yet). And Marco is always hit or miss in this race. So yeah, out of them, I think Hunter-Reay stands the best chance. And I think Penske is in kind of a weird spot, mainly because of their lineup. Either one of them can win it, but at the same time all three of them could very well end up taking themselves out of the race. I'm not gonna predict anything with Montoya as you never know what he's gonna do. And I know Will Power has improved on the ovals a lot, but I'm still not sure if I trust him to win under pressure in the Indy 500. So I honestly think Helio might be Penske's best shot at winning it this year, but that's only if he can put a full race together (which is something he's struggled with in recent years). It should be an awesome race though. If it's anything like last year, we are in for a hell of a race. Definitely looking forward to it. 12. DB1995 posted: 05.18.2014 - 9:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) predictions Ryan Hunter-Reay wins over Charlie Kimball. Kurt Busch lasts 10 laps at best. 13. Daniel posted: 05.18.2014 - 10:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Prediction: Helio Castroneves Sleeper: Mikhail Aleshin 14. joey2448 posted: 05.18.2014 - 10:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think Kurt Busch will have a similar race to what A.J. Allmendinger put together last year, except Busch probably won't lead any laps. But I think he'll make a good go of it and run near the front for a bit. I picked Hunter-Reay to win last year and he came close with a third place finish, and with the strength that the Andretti cars have showed so far, I wouldn't be surprised to see RHR drinking the milk. I'm quite pleased with row three. Munoz, Newgarden and Hildebrand would all make for popular victories! And I would like to see Jacques Villeneuve do well, even though I think he'll struggle with a slow car. I know many of you don't like him because of his antics in the NASCAR Nationwide road course races, but he is a hell of a race car driver, and smart too! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the list of drivers making their Indy 500 debut is Kurt Busch, Jack Hawksworth, Mikhail Aleshin, Carlos Huertas, James Davison, Martin Plowman and Sage Karam. 15. Sean posted: 05.18.2014 - 11:34 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Winner: Montoya This was my pick at the start of the year, and I'm not changing it. His road course results this season have been disappointing, to be kind (he even lucked into his top 5 at Long Beach...on pace, he has actually been one of the slowest drivers this season in a PENSKE CAR). However, Allmendinger was probably even weaker on the road courses last year in the same car, and he and Power were the only drivers who seemed able to lead for an extended period in last year's race. Now consider that Montoya is a better oval driver than Allmendinger at everything (Champ Car, IndyCar, and NASCAR), and especially a better INDY driver than Allmendinger (considering he came very close to being the first driver to win Indy and the Brickyard) and I think he has to be the favorite. It seems only the Penske, Andretti, and Carpenter cars are likely to have the speed to do it. Montoya is a better oval driver than Castroneves and Power FOR SURE. Castroneves's oval record is incredibly overrated. He went winless on ovals in CART despite driving for Penske for 2 years, and generally only seemed some dominant oval force in the IRL when he was competing against a diluted field... 2002 in the IRL actually had surprising depth, but after that, from 2003-2010 with rare exceptions, the Penske, Ganassi, and Andretti(-Green) cars pretty much monopolized the top ten on every oval regardless of who was driving the cars... This meant that SOLELY due to equipment Danica Patrick, Marco Andretti, and Hideki Mutoh were automatic locks to finish in the top ten in points when they were in Andretti cars because nobody outside the Big Three could compete... It's comical that Mutoh ended up winning IndyCar Rookie of the Year over Justin Wilson and Will Power, who both won races in worse cars while Mutoh was completely uncompetitive in good ones, solely because the Big Three cars were untouchable. The depth increased suddenly (and dramatically) in 2011, the last year of the old cars, allowing Dan Wheldon and Ed Carpenter to win races, Oriol Servia to finish top five in points for a left-for-dead Newman-Haas, Alex Tagliani to win the pole for the Indy 500, etc... This depth has continued in subsequent seasons with the new chassis. Castroneves and Dario Franchitti in particular were HIGHLY overrated oval racers (considering they very rarely contended for wins on them in CART against a full field), then only dominated when they were among the few drivers with any talent who were in the only cars capable of winning. It says a lot that when the IRL was mostly oval in 2004-05 and Andretti-Green Racing had the overwhelming best cars, that Franchitti was way off the pace of Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon all season, and I've always thought Scott Dixon was more diverse and consistent from track-to-track than Franchitti. Dixon, Kanaan, and Wheldon were the three guys who impressed me on ovals in that era. Kanaan and Wheldon proved they could win at Indy outside the big teams. I'm almost CERTAIN Castroneves and Franchitti would never have been able to do that - Franchitti had a history of being unable to out-duel Ed Carpenter (who has become a good oval driver, but still...) Hornish was impressive at the side-by-side drafting on the cookie-cutters that was an IRL stable, but seemed to be a one-trick pony (still a better oval driver than Castroneves or Franchitti though...) Ryan Briscoe, who has proven over time to be ultimately as big an overhyped flop as his NASCAR equivalent Ryan Newman, was solely winning because he was in a Penske car. When the series became competitive in 2011, he suddenly stopped winning, and Castroneves mostly has too... Helio's only oval win since then was Texas last year, and a lot of people questioned the legality of his car... Power seemed to finally get it at Fontana - and when the race was far less of a gimme for him than the period when Castroneves won most of his oval races - and I think he'll be a threat, but Montoya is EASILY the favorite from the Penske camp, for the race... Even since the CART/IRL split, you seemingly need to be a CART veteran or a graduate of CART's feeder series to win at Indy. Buddy Lazier, Arie Luyendyk, Eddie Cheever, Juan Pablo Montoya, Helio Castroneves, Gil de Ferran, Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, and Tony Kanaan were all CART veterans. Buddy Rice, Dan Wheldon, and Sam Hornish were all graduates of CART's feeder series. The ONLY driver completely unaffiliated with CART when he won the Indy 500 was Kenny Brack, who went on to race in CART the next year anyway. Drivers who emerged in the Champ Car period haven't won yet (Bourdais, Wilson, Hunter-Reay, Servia, Allmendinger, Power, Pagenaud, etc...) Drivers who developed in the IRL/IndyCar/merged series feeders with no CART/Atlantic/CART-era Indy Lights experience haven't won yet (Carpenter, Andretti, Munoz, Hildebrand, Kimball, etc...). Drivers who climbed the Champ Car ladder en route to the IRL AFTER CART's bankruptcy haven't won yet (Hunter-Reay, Danica Patrick, Allmendinger, de Silvestro, Hinchcliffe, etc...) At SOME POINT one would expect these trends to change, but so far, Kenny Brack is the exception proving the rule. You very likely need to be a CART alumnus to win, and Montoya and Kanaan are the only two drivers left who actually won 500-mile Handford-device CART races (which the recent Indy 500s closely resemble). Now consider that Kanaan doesn't seem to have the car... Granted, most of the drivers out there now have the experience from the 2012 and 2013 500s, but I still think the few remaining drivers with CART experience will have an edge. The top four finishers in 2012 were those with experience in the Handford races after all (Franchitti, Dixon, Kanaan, Servia...) That was hardly a coincidence. THAT's the drafting experience you need. Admittedly, everybody has it now so I could easily see Hunter-Reay or Power or Andretti or whoever finally breaking through despite not having the background of the recent winners. But 13/18 post-split era winners having CART experience and 4 of the other 5 having either Toyota Atlantic or CART-era Indy Lights experience is huge... I'm not sure IRL-heritage replacement series now calling itself Indy Lights has produced a major star yet, besides Hinchcliffe, and if he wins, he raced in Atlantics anyway... If Power or Hunter-Reay or Bourdais win, they raced in Champ Car, but except for RHR, Champ Car success has meant little on the ovals in the merged series. (Then again, most of the ex-Champ Car drivers haven't had good rides in the merged series...) I kinda think Montoya is an overwhelming favorite (if he could handle Michael Andretti in this sort of race in the 2000 U.S. 500, he should be able to handle these guys just fine), or as overwhelming as could be imagined in this race that is something of a crapshoot... As for whom I'm rooting for, Josef Newgarden all the way... 16. Sean posted: 05.18.2014 - 11:39 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) "IRL stable" Oops, this should have said IRL "staple". hahahaha 17. Sean posted: 05.19.2014 - 12:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I think Kurt Busch will have a similar race to what A.J. Allmendinger put together last year, except Busch probably won't lead any laps. But I think he'll make a good go of it and run near the front for a bit." Yeah, he'll finish on the lead lap, around 10th or 12th, but not be seriously competitive. I however am predicting that he WILL lead, since I expect pretty much everyone with one of the dominant teams (which means Andretti, Carpenter, and Penske - maybe Ganassi will have something on race day) to play hot potato with the lead in this race. 18. Anonymous posted: 05.19.2014 - 8:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sean, did you actually watch CART? Dario tied Juan Pablo for the '99 title, the difference was on ovals in JPM's favour. Helio had 6 wins in CART before Penske switched to the IRL. Since you mention him... Newgarden raced in Indy Lights in 2011 (successfully seeing off the far more experienced Esteban Guerrieri, who had been battling Daniel Ricciardo in Formula Renault 3.5 the year before). Hildebrand is also a Lights graduate who was one corner from winning the 500 as rookie. 19. Anonymous posted: 05.19.2014 - 10:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Did Ed get 41 points for winning the pole both days or not 20. Sean posted: 05.19.2014 - 1:21 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Sean, did you actually watch CART? Dario tied Juan Pablo for the '99 title, the difference was on ovals in JPM's favour. Helio had 6 wins in CART before Penske switched to the IRL." Sure, I did. I was saying Dario and Helio were overrated oval drivers there, as is indicated by their CART careers. Castroneves never won on an oval in CART. Franchitti only won a CART oval race once when he got lucky on pit strategy. Both of them didn't start winning on the ovals with any frequency until they got to the IRL and the field was largely diluted. I also think they are probably two of the most overrated IndyCar drivers of all time in general, considering Castroneves has been with Penske for so long and still hasn't won a title (while even Hornish did when they were teammates) and Franchitti sort of backed into three of his four titles (I'd say all of them except 2010), and two of his three Indy 500 wins (again, all of them except 2010). Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, and Dan Wheldon were the guys who impressed me on the ovals in general in that era of the IRL much more than Dario and Helio and it's a shame they all ended up with fewer 500 wins. I'd also say Hornish impressed me more on the ovals, but he was definitely more of a one-trick pony/cookie cutter specialist. I do NOT however argue that drafting/side-by-side battling isn't a talent. Certain iterations of restrictor plate racing I have when people seemed to win solely due to catching a random lucky draft rather than anything they actually did, but Hornish definitely fought for his oval wins, much like Montoya did at the Michigan 500 against Michael Andretti. Yeah, I know Montoya and Franchitti tied, but Montoya was WAY stronger in the races both in 1999 and in 2000 (when he had a Lola-Toyota package that was weaker than Dario's Reynard-Honda package...I know Dario was injured, but still...) In '99, they only tied because Montoya threw races away and Franchitti didn't, basically... It appears Montoya has lost most of what he had (I'm not very surprised since his contemporaries like Castroneves and Kanaan are fading too) but I still think his oval dominance from his CART days will mean something if drivers who were much weaker on ovals than him like Castroneves and Franchitti became multiple 500 winners... "Since you mention him... Newgarden raced in Indy Lights in 2011 (successfully seeing off the far more experienced Esteban Guerrieri, who had been battling Daniel Ricciardo in Formula Renault 3.5 the year before). Hildebrand is also a Lights graduate who was one corner from winning the 500 as rookie." I know all that too. Not knocking Newgarden's talent. I love the guy and want him to win. I like Hildebrand too, but I really question his talent. No, not because of Indy 2011 so much, but because of him crashing while leading at Fontana in 2012, running over Will Power under caution at St. Pete last year, then crashing on lap 4 at Indy last year... Mistakes are fine when you're dominating/winning frequently elsewhere (Power and Hunter-Reay arguably make even MORE mistakes) but when you crash on every one of the rare occasions when you run up front, it's hard to take him seriously. Hildebrand did beat a pretty deep field as far as Indy Lights is concerned, including James Hinchcliffe, but success at the minor leagues does not necessarily mean success at the big leagues. Who thought Denny Hamlin would be the star and Martin Truex, Jr. would be at best a slightly above average driver in 2005? I was primarily saying experience in CART or CART's feeder series is what is needed to win at Indy. At some point, maybe it won't be, as more of the modern drivers who didn't have that experience now do from the previous years drafting with the DW12 package. "Did Ed get 41 points for winning the pole both days or not" 42. 33 for leading qualifying on Saturday and 9 for winning the Fast 9 shootout. Qualifying points are so, so stupid. Munoz jumped from 19th to 10th and Hinchcliffe jumped from 21st to 11th(!) solely due to qualifying. At least Hinchcliffe ran well in previous races (well enough that he really SHOULD be around there in points based on how he was running), but Munoz this season has been TERRIBLE (if he wins at Indy, I guess it won't matter). The MOST appalling thing has to be Ryan Briscoe going up from 11th to 9th EVEN THOUGH HE'S STARTING 30TH (yes, he did improve to 17th on Saturday, which was enough to pass a couple people, even though he was way more awful than that most of that weekend...) 21. 18fan posted: 05.19.2014 - 3:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kurt Busch crashed in practice today. 22. Neal posted: 05.19.2014 - 4:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kurt Busch crashed in practice today. --- Yup. Saw a replay of it. Fairly hard lick. Got loose in the middle of two and saved it but he'd walked it far enough up the track that he nailed the outside wall on corner exit. May or may not be able to get the car fixed before Sunday. 23. Peter posted: 05.19.2014 - 4:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Back-to-Back for Ed "the little engine that could" Carpenter. Awesome job mate! 24. Eric posted: 05.19.2014 - 5:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @18, Sean said Helio never won an oval race in CART, not Helio never won a race in CART. All 6 races Helio won are road and Street Course events for CART at the time. I am saying this as a person who did watch CART events on television and I am familiar with all the tracks Helio won at during his CART days matter of fact. 25. joey2448 posted: 05.19.2014 - 5:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) So will Kurt still keep his 12th-place qualifying position after crashing? Cuz I heard somewhere that he will. Obviously, in NASCAR, if you crash and are forced to a backup, you have to start at the rear of the field. But is it different in IndyCar? 26. numbah10hatah posted: 05.19.2014 - 6:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Prediction: Will Power Dark Horses: Kurt Busch and JR Hildebrand (I am rooting for him) joey2448 (comment #14): I read that Jacques Villenueve didn't trim for qualifying. He was in race trim and didn't have enough time to change into qualifying trim. 27. Neal posted: 05.19.2014 - 10:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @25 - Kurt will only retain his starting spot if they can repair the car before the race. If he has to go to a backup car he'll be forced to start in the back. 28. SpeedWorld97 posted: 05.20.2014 - 8:01 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) It should be mentioned that this Sunday's 98th running of the Indianapolis 500 will sadly be the last time that Jim Nabors sings "Back Home Again in Indiana" before the command to start engines. It will truly be sad to see such an icon and tradition at the Speedway conclude this year, but as they say, all good things must come to an end. 29. joey2448 posted: 05.20.2014 - 8:49 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I sincerely hope they can find someone to continue the tradition of singing that song, because it just ain't the Indy 500 without it. No one can replace Jim Nabors, but at least that tradition should go on. 30. Sarf52 posted: 05.20.2014 - 10:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I guess Townsend Bell is taking a hiatus from Robby Gordon's Stadium Super Trucks Series this weekend. Glad to see him back in a higher sanctioned form of racing. Kids got talent! Graham Rahal wins it this year calling it 31. Sean posted: 05.21.2014 - 12:37 am Rate this comment: (5) (0) "Graham Rahal wins it this year calling it" Good luck... 32. NicoRosbergFan posted: 05.21.2014 - 6:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Graham Rahal wins it this year calling it" I got a ton of bridges to sell to YOU. 33. Dave #38 Fan-Go Gilliland! posted: 05.21.2014 - 10:37 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I guess Townsend Bell is taking a hiatus from Robby Gordon's Stadium Super Trucks Series this weekend. Glad to see him back in a higher sanctioned form of racing. Kids got talent!" Bell's 39, I'd hardly call him a kid... 34. RaceFanX posted: 05.21.2014 - 11:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve makes his IndyCar debut and his first start at Indy since his win in 1995. IIRC Villeneuve previously shrugged off racing in the IRL as "too dangerous" before his comeback. Juan Pablo Montoya also enters the 500 for the first time since his win in 2000. In total there are six former winners entered this year. Kurt Busch makes his IndyCar debut doing the Indy 500/Coca-Cola 600 double and becomes the first Sprint Cup champion to compete in NASCAR, IndyCar, and the NHRA (he did a Pro Stock race in 2011). Mikhail Aleshin becomes the first Russian to race in the Indianapolis 500. 35. RaceFanX posted: 05.21.2014 - 11:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bump Day has no drama when there's only 33 enteries. With only 1 DNQ in the last three years the field has really been short lately. 36. Peter posted: 05.22.2014 - 9:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Graham Rahal wins it this year calling it" I hope so, Graham's my boy. I love to see the Rahal's etch their name next to the Unser's in the history book. That would also be poetic justice as "Little Al" was arguably Bobby's biggest rival in CART 37. luigistarted06 posted: 05.22.2014 - 11:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I have a gut feeling Helio wins his 4th Indy 500 this year. If I have to pick some dark horses though i'd go with Simon Pagenaud, J.R. Hildebrand and Will Power, although i'm not sure it's right to consider him a dark horse 38. Dave #38 Fan-Go Gilliland! posted: 05.22.2014 - 11:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) "I have a gut feeling Helio wins his 4th Indy 500 this year." 3rd. I don't care what the record books say Paul Tracy won in 2002. 39. Sean posted: 05.22.2014 - 12:51 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Kurt Busch makes his IndyCar debut doing the Indy 500/Coca-Cola 600 double and becomes the first Sprint Cup champion to compete in NASCAR, IndyCar, and the NHRA (he did a Pro Stock race in 2011)." Kurt is actually the first PAST Cup champion to ever start the Indy 500. Bobby Allison, Tony Stewart, and Cale Yarborough did not win the championship until AFTER their last Indy starts. "Bump Day has no drama when there's only 33 enteries. With only 1 DNQ in the last three years the field has really been short lately." Yeah, well that's what happens when Chevy and Honda lose money on each engine. They're losing money just to get to 33 so there's no way they'd want to support any more cars. That's why Honda is pushing Ford to enter even though Ford doesn't want to, and that's why a number of interested teams from the sports car world like Michael Shank Racing never managed to make it onto the IndyCar grid (unavailability of engines). The other alternative is they mandate a spec safety cell and allow independent builders to enter as well as the factory-backed teams (which all of them are at the moment). Or they could choose to go much more high-tech like CART did and hope to attract high-performance engines from Audi or whomever, but I don't think the series is popular enough at this point to justify that expense. They seem to be fixated on the engine manufacturers marketing the series, and no independent engine builder could do that... Besides, how many independent engine builders are even left? In F1 and NASCAR, the teams do their own work, so if IndyCar opened it up at this point, very likely the teams would manufacture their own engines and give them to smaller teams, but there still wouldn't be that many engines available since the independent engine builders in the '90s and previous decades are pretty much gone everywhere... "That would also be poetic justice as "Little Al" was arguably Bobby's biggest rival in CART" Nah. They were both bigger rivals with Michael Andretti than they were with each other. Seems to me that in most of Rahal's best seasons he had top-line equipment and Unser didn't, and vice versa. By contrast, Bobby Rahal and Michael Andretti finished 1-2 in points four separate times, something Rahal and Unser did not do once. "I have a gut feeling Helio wins his 4th Indy 500 this year." Even ignoring 2002, he is the worst multiple winner already, so I hope not. All the other multiple winners had more successful overall careers except Arie Luyendyk and Dan Wheldon, but in my opinion both of them were MUCH better oval drivers (could Castroneves have won in a Shierson or Herta car? Nah...) "If I have to pick some dark horses though i'd go with Simon Pagenaud, J.R. Hildebrand and Will Power, although i'm not sure it's right to consider him a dark horse" Even though Power has a mediocre oval record and Paegnaud hasn't won on one yet (largely because I don't think his equipment is capable of it), they're way too successful overall for anyone to consider them dark horses... And others like Marco Andretti and Carlos Munoz have already shined at Indy even if they struggle on the rest of the schedule, so they're hardly dark horses either... The real dark horse contenders in my opinion are Hildebrand, Josef Newgarden, Justin Wilson (way too talented to be in this group but it looks like he'll never get the ride he deserves), Charlie Kimball, and Sage Karam. 40. Sean posted: 05.22.2014 - 12:55 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Okay, you could say Hildebrand shined at Indy too, but he was up there in 2011 because Panther had the best fuel strategy at the time, and he's been largely forgotten since (except for the several MUCH dumber crashes he's had since), while EVERYONE is expecting Munoz to shine while I think he'll be a disappointment this time... After all, all the other rookie 2nd place finishers (George Amick, Roberto Guerrero, Christian Fittipaldi, Marco Andretti, J.R. Hildebrand) became career disappointments. Yeah, Christian and Marco were/are slightly above average (just not deserving of the rides they had for as long as they had them), and Guerrero looked really good before his injury (much like Steve Park), but in general, I'm still right. I do think Marco will win the race at some point (I don't believe in curses), but it won't really raise my esteem of him as a driver. He runs well at Indy, Iowa, and one road course a year every year. He needs to do more than that consistently before I take him more seriously. Yes, he was a threat on ALL the ovals last year, which is an improvement, but he's still mostly lost on road courses. 41. Sean posted: 05.22.2014 - 1:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) All the other rookie 2nd place finishers became career disappointments EXCEPT for Jim Clark and Jacques Villeneuve, who both subsequently became Formula One champions... So 2nd place rookie finishers either become F1 champions or career underachievers (even if they grab a couple wins here and there...) Not that a trend like that is necessarily likely to continue any more than the so-called Andretti curse that really is just bad luck and the so-called Cup runner-up curse that I think is just a weird coincidence... 42. Unser1 posted: 05.22.2014 - 7:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jacques Villenueve's 19 years between Indy 500 starts is an event record. 43. NicoRosbergFan posted: 05.22.2014 - 8:12 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) To say George Amick was an underachiever is a vicious insult considering he got killed so early in his career. George had 3 wins, 20 top-5s, and 24 top-10s in just 34 starts before dying, plus he only ran ONE Indy 500, and finished secod in it. Using this logic, Talmadge Prince is the worst auto racer to ever exist since he died in his Cup debut. Likewise, your logic with Helio Castroneves is rather poor because all of his Indy 500 wins came from straight domination. He has been one of the most consistent drivers in IndyCar history. Again, using your logic, Mark Martin is also a talentless hack. 44. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.22.2014 - 10:10 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) ...there are actually alot of people who say Mark Martin is a talentless hack merely because he never won a championship...even though he had 1990 kinda. 45. Sean posted: 05.22.2014 - 10:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "To say George Amick was an underachiever is a vicious insult considering he got killed so early in his career. George had 3 wins, 20 top-5s, and 24 top-10s in just 34 starts before dying, plus he only ran ONE Indy 500, and finished secod in it." That was just me being ignorant and thank you for calling me on it. I retract my criticism of him. I don't know nearly enough about the AAA/early USAC years and I need to keep my mouth shut until I've read more. "Likewise, your logic with Helio Castroneves is rather poor because all of his Indy 500 wins came from straight domination. He has been one of the most consistent drivers in IndyCar history. Again, using your logic, Mark Martin is also a talentless hack." There's a big, big difference between Castroneves and Martin. Mark Martin is the driver who brought Roush Racing to prominence and turned it from a fledgling team into a powerhouse. Yes, Roush had already had plenty of success in NHRA and IMSA and Trans-Am but succeeding in other forms of racing doesn't guarantee success in Cup (see Ganassi and TRG and Cal Wells...) Martin is on a par with Mark Donohue, who similarly almost singlehandedly created Roger Penske's empire. Penske has had success with many, many drivers before and after Castroneves, so nothing is really analogous. Yes, Penske had the worst period in its history immediately before Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves arrived at the team in 2000 and instantly improved in 2000. That was mostly because Penske switched from the inferior Penske chassis, Mercedes engines, and Goodyear tires to the dominant Reynard-Honda-Firestone package that Ganassi used to win the last four titles. de Ferran, who was one of the biggest overachievers in that era (whom I'd rank even over Alex Zanardi considering de Ferran managed to win and get really good points finishes out of Goodyear tires, something I don't think Zanardi would have done), receives most of the credit for Penske's reemergence in my book. Castroneves won more races than de Ferran both years, but only on road/street courses, while de Ferran was way more consistent and a lot better on the ovals. de Ferran was also stronger than Castroneves when they switched to the IRL in 2002. de Ferran was leading the points entering the next-to-last race when he had his crash at Chicagoland that ended the season, and only lost the next year's championship by 18 points to Scott Dixon despite missing a race, significantly better than Castroneves. Sam Hornish replaced Castroneves and despite Hornish only being good on ovals, he still managed to win a 500 and a title when he and Castroneves were teammates while Helio didn't. Will Power has easily outperformed Castroneves on the road courses since his arrival there and has now matched him on the ovals. Castroneves did have the measure of Ryan Briscoe, but was significantly behind him in points in 2 of Briscoe's 5 seasons at Penske ('09 and '11), and Briscoe has turned out to be not very good... So worse than de Ferran, better than Hornish but worse on the tracks that made up the IRL schedule at the time, slightly better than Briscoe, and much worse than Power on the road courses and only slightly better than him on the ovals. I'm just not impressed. Castroneves is not like Mark Martin, a driver who built up a team by himself. He's a driver like Jeff Burton or Kasey Kahne, who was always overshadowed by other drivers on whatever team he was on, except for maybe a couple random seasons. Martin WAS Roush for quite some time. Castroneves was just one of many guys Penske has had success with. The other thing is the split. Mark Martin was able to be competitive on any track against all the top drivers at any time. Castroneves never won on an oval track in CART (against GREAT COMPETITION, sure) but he didn't contend all that often either, even in Penske cars. He and Dario Franchitti both only showed up on the ovals when in the IRL in an era when only the Penske/Ganassi/Andretti cars were capable of winning and only Franchitti, Hornish, Dixon, Wheldon, Kanaan, Castroneves, and Briscoe had any talent whatsoever in the top cars... That caused all the drivers in this period to be overrated when they were not competing against many of the other top talents (or the top talents like Justin Wilson were in much worse cars...) When there are only 6 or 7 drivers in the top cars and a couple of them are being wasted on Marco and Danica, it's easy for the talented guys in the top cars to rack up wins. You've said it yourself about Kanaan in last year's Indy 500 thread - calling Tony Kanaan a talentless hack who could only bring it on ovals against weak competition and when the deeper competition came back, he stopped winning. I would say pretty much the exact same thing for Castroneves except that he was in Penske cars which were stronger than KV cars. They were both overrated due to the split, and they were among the top oval drivers LEFT after the retirement/injury/departure/etc... of Montoya, Zanardi, Vasser, Brack, de Ferran, Stewart, Moore, Fernandez, etc..., etc... If you're going to criticize Kanaan for not bringing it against the top competition, I'd say the same for Castroneves. He's found a way of getting good finishes lately while not really featuring in the races, I'll give you that. Which means he's driving like a boring RCR driver (Bowyer and Harvick 5 years ago...) "Dominant" isn't a really word I'd use. In the periods he was dominant, it was more Penske being dominant where even Briscoe could contend for titles. "Consistent" isn't a word I'd use either - he's nowhere near as consistent as Dixon is or Franchitti was. By the way, YOU were the one who said talentless hack, not me. I did not and would not call Castroneves a talentless hack, nor Kanaan (whom you did). But his win count and Indy win count are certainly elevated by him competing against weak fields (2001 field was very weak; in 2002, even if you argue Castroneves won and Tracy's gripe was unfounded, Castroneves was hardly 'dominant' - he won on fuel mileage, Scheckter and Kanaan were dominant, and in 2009 the Ganassi cars were dominant and faded). I am absolutely saying Castroneves sucks compared to the other multiple Indy winners. All their careers trump his for sure except Wheldon and Luyendyk, but at least those two drivers struck me as much better Indy drivers. Castroneves has done EVERYTHING for Penske and still not won a title despite being there a decade (while many, many drivers have won titles for Penske in a shorter time period than that, and against deeper competition). But just saying he's weaker than the other multiple Indy 500 winners isn't saying he's weak! He's just like Jeff Burton - a good driver who was usually overshadowed by his teammates and appeared great because he more or less dominated over a shallow period (and the late '90s in Cup was a very shallow period as Earnhardt, Rusty, Terry, Elliott, Rudd, Irvan, Bodine, etc... were all fading and few new stars were emerging), but didn't really have a good enough season for the championship. I have some friends who are WAY harsher than Helio than I am by the way, and I can't even stand him anymore! (I agree with Jimmy Vasser, who called Helio his favorite actor, since his fake joie de vivre is too unbelievable to be true, unlike Hinchcliffe and Newgarden who really DO seem to have a joyous, raucous sense of fun...) You know how equipment-centric everything is in open wheel. You know how it took Nico Rosberg forever to win in Formula One and now that Mercedes is the only team capable of winning, Hamilton and Rosberg are likely to win every race this season... Castroneves has greatly benefited from having stability (which most of his peers haven't) in a top ride (and there are a lot fewer top rides than there used to be in CART's heyday...) If guys like Bourdais, Wilson, Servia, etc... had been in top rides in the IRL in the mid-2000s Castroneves would look as he is. A perfectly decent, pretty good, but far from great driver who's become one of the most overrated drivers because of his lack of competition... How many races has Castroneves dominated since the competition came back to IndyCar in 2011 or 2012? He's won some, but they've been almost as flukish as Briscoe's... Not feeling the Mark Martin comparison. Simon Pagenaud, who is threatening to win a title with a fledgling team, and seldom makes mistakes, is much more like Mark Martin. Helio Castroneves, who got overshadowed repeatedly by teammates, and makes mistakes a LOT (did you watch 2011 when he got beaten in points by Danica and Graham Rahal in a worse car?!) is much more like Jeff Burton... 46. Sean posted: 05.22.2014 - 11:04 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "...there are actually alot of people who say Mark Martin is a talentless hack merely because he never won a championship...even though he had 1990 kinda." I do find him a bit overrated too, but not nearly as much as Castroneves. In Martin's case, it's just that EVERYONE takes as default that Martin and Davey Allison are the best drivers to not win a championship in the modern era, when many of their contemporaries who could occasionally/often be more impressive like Tim Richmond, Ernie Irvan, Ricky Rudd, Geoff Bodine, Neil Bonnett, and Harry Gant are just spat on and not even talked about anymore. Most of those drivers had career-altering injuries/health issues, many years spent in awful rides, etc... while Martin had longevity in a consistent ride and still didn't win a title. And I'll take Richmond's '86, Gant's '91, Davey's '92, and Irvan's '94 over any season Martin has ever had... Martin's longevity does make a good case for him as the best non-champion of the modern era, I'll grant that. (Definitely not all time - Martin is way worse than Johnson, Roberts, and Lorenzen, who did not run full-time schedules...) I do think some of those other drivers may have done more than Martin - got the titles that eluded Martin - if they had had his longevity and stability. Martin just wasn't aggressive enough to fight with Earnhardt, Wallace, or Gordon. He was always a top five driver, never the best. Which is better than Castroneves, who I saw as like a 10th-12th place driver (when counting both sides of the split) who was elevated to top 5 because he was one of the few guys in a top car in the IRL for that long (gosh, what could Bruno Junqueira or Oriol Servia have done driving for Penske for over a decade?) If Castroneves wants to prove himself to me, he either needs to win a title or leave Penske and manage to win somewhere else. I don't think he's capable of either at this point. I'm WAY more impressed by Kanaan winning a 500 for KV or Wheldon winning a 500 for Herta than any of Castroneves's (and I'd hardly say he's ever been DOMINANT at Indy. I know I'm repeating myself. Dixon has been the dominant driver at Indy most often lately...) Forgive me on George Amick. That was bald-faced stupidity due to failure to do the research. But I'm not backing down on Castroneves. Saying a driver who won 3 races and was a hot up-and-comer before dying is a cheap shot. I agree and I apologize. I should have just stuck with the modern 2nd place finishers who truly WERE mediocre. But saying Castroneves is one of the weakest multiple Indy 500 winners and REALLY not wanting him to win a 4th on that basis is not... 47. Sean posted: 05.22.2014 - 11:19 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Martin is on a par with Mark Donohue, who similarly almost singlehandedly created Roger Penske's empire. Penske has had success with many, many drivers before and after Castroneves, so nothing is really analogous." Actually, I certainly retract that. Donohue was a dominant force in many different kinds of racing, while Martin only mastered stock cars... Martin is on a par with Donohue only in the sense that he turned a fledgling operation into a powerhouse, but Martin only did that in one series, while Donohue did that in several series... That was my point... 48. RaceFanX posted: 05.23.2014 - 10:09 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Helio Castroneves is running a throwback Pennzoil paint job for this race. He's got the 1980s-era simple yellow with black and red look in honor of the 20th anniversary of Rick Mears' 1984 Indy win in the Pennzoil car. The car really looks right with that paint job. 49. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.24.2014 - 8:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Love that paint job. 50. Biscuits In A Red Bull posted: 05.25.2014 - 7:13 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Shut up and stop arguing. Any last minute tips for the win? 51. NicoRosbergFan posted: 05.25.2014 - 7:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) ^Watch for Ed... he is the best on ovals. Andretti has the horsepower, but not the brainpower. Penske and Ganassi are in the same boat as Andretti, but with the officials in their back pocket. Newgarden is a dark horse. Hildebrand will probably wreck. Pagenaud will lead some laps and fight for the win. Aleshin might just kill himself or someone else before this is done. Look for Wilson to have a mediocre run and suddenly go from 20th to 5th in the last 5-6 laps. Expect little from KV, Rahal-Letterman, or the other two Dale Coyne cars (Mann and Huertas). Foyt lacks the horses. Tagliani isn't gelling with his team. Kimball seems to run this race with lead weights. Villeneuve is a codger... don't count him out for a top-10. Bell will outperform his teammates at KV. Briscoe is a hack. Karam is showing he's a rookie, which is all-right... he'll finish a few laps down I'd guess. Buddy Lazier is a ticking time bomb for a mechanical failure. 52. MarkMartinFan posted: 05.25.2014 - 8:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think either Carpenter, Newgarden, or Bourdais will win this race. 53. SpeedWorld97 posted: 05.25.2014 - 8:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I have to believe that the two Target Chip Ganassi cars will be threats to win in the final 100 miles. They were fast on Carb Day and they've shown much speed since qualifying last weekend. Watch out for them... 54. John Royal posted: 05.25.2014 - 9:28 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Is there stream and what is the race start time? 55. Smiff_2 posted: 05.25.2014 - 10:46 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Green Flag is *scheduled* for Noon. This should be a good one, guys. Hopefully it goes green for the finish. Last year was setting up to be incredible before the yellow came. 56. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 11:02 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) 1 minute. It took 1 minute for the Andretti Curse to be mentioned. 57. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 11:10 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Now that was cool. Just letting the drivers talk about what Indy means to them. So many times in sports they try so hard to press the drama nerve, they look past the blind obvious. Just let the people talk about the emotion of winning and losing. Keep It Simple Stupid. 58. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 11:15 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Was that Benedict Cumberbatch I just saw in Winner's Circle during that flashback? 59. SpeedWorld97 posted: 05.25.2014 - 11:19 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) That feature on ABC's 50's Indy 500 broadcast was quite epic. I'm really enjoying their pre-race coverage so far. 60. SpeedWorld97 posted: 05.25.2014 - 11:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) You know, there is NO sporting event that sends chills down your spine more than the Indy 500. I'm trying to enjoy every minute of this race, because it only occurs once every year... 61. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 11:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Does anyone know the story behind the drivers drinking milk in victory lane in this race? I've heard it before, but I forgot.... 62. JG24FanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 11:33 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) It's been 23 years since a driver last won a fourth Indy 500. Anybody see Castroneves weeping in the glory of becoming the fourth four-time Indianapolis 500 Champion? I personally want to see 'Southern boy' Newgarden win this one. 63. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 11:34 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) After having a nice little breakfast in Monaco, time to have lunch in Indy. Anyone care to join me? 64. John Royal posted: 05.25.2014 - 11:34 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I believe the milk-tradition comes from Ray Harroun who wanted to drink milk after is inaugural 500 victory. 65. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 11:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Personally, I want Montoya to win this event. 2 for 2. Now how often does THAT happen? 66. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 11:40 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Charlie Kimball's shoes, though... 67. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 11:44 am Rate this comment: (2) (1) Scott Dixon had that look on his face like "please Lord let me get through the first corner without getting wrecked by either of these two". 68. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 11:46 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Did anybody else hear all those squeals for Newgarden? I didn't know he was such a ladies' man... 69. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 11:49 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Oh, DSFF, there you are. 70. NicoRosbergFan posted: 05.25.2014 - 11:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Milk? Louis Meyer in 1936 was the first to drink milk in victory lane. He did it at his mother's suggestion. 71. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Best prayer I've heard in a long time. 72. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Seeing the jets flying overhead... Those feels. Every bloody year. 73. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Best prayer I've heard in a long time." Can't say the same for the national anthem, though,. God damn that was terrible. 74. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) He gets an AMEN! from me. 75. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:12 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Now that was an epic piece, combining the past and the present. Even the brief Danican't cameo couldn't bring it down. 76. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If I were Dixon, I'd be a lot more worried about Hildebrand than Montoya or Busch... And I like Hildebrand much more than the other two! 77. JP88 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wow that intro gave me goosebumps 78. RaceFanX posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hard to believe the 500 has been on ABC for 50 years, it's amazing how different the world is now compared to then but that one thing has remained constant. 79. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jim Nabors. For the final time. :'( 80. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Back home again....in Indiana!!! 81. RaceFanX posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:16 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Thanks for the memories Jim Nabors, you will always have a spot in 500 lore. 82. We need more Onion posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Legend. Thank you Mr. Nabors. 83. RaceFanX posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @65 Helio pulled it off. Wow, they let Jim Nabors join Mary Hulman George for the command! What a fitting, cool twist. 84. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:17 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) But he dun messed up the command...he forgot Pippa Mann was in the field and said "Gentleman start your engines" 85. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sage Karam...what the hell? 86. Smiff_2 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I teared up a little when Jim Nabors started singing. It won't be the same without him :( 87. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If this race turns out anything like last year's 500, this should be an epic race. 88. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Okay people. 3 wide, 11 deep. We'll be seeing speeds up to 230 mph, speeds that were unthinkable 100 years ago. Legends are challenged, Curses are to be challenged, minds are to be challenged. But above all, anything can, has, and will happen. No one really knows what will happen, but one thing is sure: It's sunny, and it's the greatest spectacle in racing. LETS DO THIS!!!!!! 89. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cuban sporting the Tre Roberson jersey, nice! 90. New14 & 88Fan posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And they're off! 91. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hinchcliffe takes the lead on the start. 92. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ryan Briscoe already on pit road. 93. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Briscoe to the pits. 94. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Briscoe having to come in early, he tagged the wall off turn 2 on lap 1. 95. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Briscoe pits. 96. dennyfan11 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) GREEN FLAG! 97. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brisoce nearly wiped it out on the opening lap. 98. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Briscoe almost took out James Davison on the first lap. 99. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hinchcliffe has led the first 10 laps. 100. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Now Carpenter goes to the point. 101. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't know what kind of guy Mario Andretti is in real life, but if he's even a tenth as awesome as he is in interviews and commercials, I'd love to meet him. James Hinchcliffe loses lead to Ed Carpenter. 102. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) We won't have 68 lead changes like last year, bit it will still be really damn good. 103. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) RHR has a rocketship. 104. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hunter-Reay might have the best car on the track right now. 105. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yeah, it doesn't look like we'll have anywhere near as many lead changes as last year. Hopefully this will still be a good 500, though. 106. DB1995 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dammit!, i missed the opening ceremonies and start, i took a nap between Monaco (me and my brother worked until 1AM on his mustang) and i just woke up to late only caught the 2nd lap. 107. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:38 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) So are we gonna get updates on Kurt every 5 laps? We are one more "Kurt has lost positions, but he is doing so good" update from him being renamed DaniKurt. 108. New14 & 88Fan posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) J.R. Hildebrand is looking good so far, up to fifth. 109. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wow, I forgot how horrid Cheever is in the booth. 110. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:41 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Anyone else find the DirecTV puppet commercials to be...creepy? 111. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hunter-Reay all the way up to 9th after starting mid-pack. 112. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mixed emotions about the lack of drafting. I'm rather shocked since it doesn't seem like there were any major changes to the cars, but this certainly does remove the random crapshoot element of the last two races... I think a year like 2011 had the best balance though... This is looking like a Cup cookie cutter race at the moment, but at least they're not throwing fake cautions... And drivers are still moving up through the field (Hildebrand, Dixon, Kanaan, Hunter-Reay...) 113. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DaniKurt passed Takuma Sato, 10 minute pit report to come. 114. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Carpenter to the pits as green-flag pitstops begin. 115. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #110: Yes. Townsend Bell on the move as well. Has gained the most positions since the start of the race. 116. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hinchcliffe is now the leader after pit stops. 117. DB1995 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Man, look at that crowd!. And welcome back DSFF. 118. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Okay, now they've started battling during the commercial. Of course! 119. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And now Will Power is out in front. 120. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Power to the lead. 121. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I can't wait to see Sage Karam upset Kurt Busch for Rookie of the Year... Much like Munoz did last year vs. Allmendinger... 122. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Damn these slingshots are sweet. 123. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Karam passed Aleshin on the outside to become the highest-ranking rookie in the race... He's been really impressive, especially making the finals of the Pit Stop competition (which was more his team than him admittedly...but impressive considering how underfunded Dreyer & Reinbold is, even though Karam IS driving a Ganassi satellite car...) 124. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Graham Rahal to the pits. Not good for that one guy who predicted him to win. 125. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Graham Rahal to the pits. He has been really struggling so far, spending virtually this entire race running 32nd. 126. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rahal in the pits with a possible engine issue. 127. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Go Hildebrand!!!!!!! 128. SpeedWorld97 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Graham has really done awful this year. 129. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Helio warned for blocking... I think that's really dumb. 130. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 12:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hildebrand up to 3rd! 131. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hinchcliffe is starting to back up a little. 132. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Helio passes Hinch on the outside of turn 1 followed by Marco passing him on the inside of turn 2. 133. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rahal coasts to the pits. Townsend Bell nearly crashed into the inside wall on the frontstretch trying to pass Tony Kanaan. 134. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Some great passing going on in mid-pack. 135. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Leave it to Montoya to make a wild pass on the short shoot. 136. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Holy Blocking Batman! Although Helio clearly blocked, they could call every driver every lap for blocking. Don't know why they singled him out. 137. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Andretti to second. 138. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Marco around Carpenter for second. 139. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Andretti to the lead. 140. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And now he goes to the lead. Castroneves to third. 141. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Pitstops again. 142. DB1995 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That Pennzoil car is beautiful, on the other hand Loganos tonight is horendous looking 143. New14 & 88Fan posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Marco's in to pit 144. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm amazed we've gone this long without an incident outside of that Lap 1 event. It's consistently been great, clean racing on the whole track. 145. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lengthy pit stop for Kanaan. 146. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kanaan with major issues on his pit stop. 147. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Big problems for Kanaan on pit road. 148. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Helio to the lead. 149. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sage Karam broke into the top ten by short-pitting. Way more impressive than Kurt Busch has been. Not that I'm surprised, considering how Hildebrand and Munoz did in their first starts given their Indy Lights experience (and Karam BEAT Munoz for the Indy Lights title last year...) 150. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kanaan was on pit road again. It looked like he might have been climbing out of the car, but I can't say for sure. 151. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hunter-Reay around Dixon for fourth. 152. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The rear wing is off Kanaan's car and Rahal is down for the count. 153. SpeedWorld97 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kansan ran out of fuel coming into the pits, then the car wouldn't restart. I really thought he would have a chance to win... 154. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Shame for Kanaan. 155. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:19 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) RHR and his gigantic balls are up to 4th. RHR stands for Really Huge Rocks. 156. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Pippa Mann off the pace. 157. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Pippa Mann is way off the pace. 158. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) For the second year in a row, a car sponsored by the National Guard will finish last. 159. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:23 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Is it fair to say that out of all the sons of legendary racing drivers, Graham Rahal has been one of the most disappointing? 160. DB1995 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I am shocked Kurt Busch hasnt wrecked yet 161. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Is it fair to say that out of all the sons of legendary racing drivers, Graham Rahal has been one of the most disappointing?" I used to think he was better than Marco every year through 2012, but Marco steps it up and Graham keeps getting worse... Especially given the National Guard sponsorship controversy, I'm pretty sure they're out. The National Guard bolted Panther and Hildebrand to sponsor the Rahals? And they're doing even worse? 162. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Karam is all the way up to 8th. Phenomenal job so far for the rookie. 163. cjs3872 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Incidentally, they've set a new record for the most laps run from the start of the Indianapolis 500 without a caution flag. The previous record was 67 in 2000. The only other time that at least 60 laps were runs from the start without a caution flag was back in 1974. The way they're going, they're going to obliterate the race record that was set last year, in terms of average speed. 164. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:27 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Sage Karam running in 8th. At this rate, he's going to be this year's Carlos Munoz. 165. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "The way they're going, they're going to obliterate the race record that was set last year, in terms of average speed." I know, this race is absolutely flying by. 166. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Karam is BETTER than Munoz, so I'm not surprised (beat him in the Indy Lights championship last year...even though both of them got passed in the 4-wide photo finish.) Why on earth did Ganassi hire Ryan Briscoe (another guy like Graham Rahal who is getting worse every single year) full-time and just has Karam on a development deal? Karam led more laps in the 12 Hours of Sebring than Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan did in the same car! 167. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I wouldn't be all that surprised if this ended up being the first caution free Indy 500, seeing how clean the pace has been so far. Of course, now that I've said that I've probably just jinxed that... 168. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Scott "I Finished 2nd In The Indy 500" Goodyear. 169. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Long pit stop for Aleshin. 170. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mother Russia has got problems... 171. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Aleshin with problems. 172. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:31 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Scott "I Also Choked an Indy 500 by Passing the Pace Car" Goodyear. 173. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hunter-Reay will be the leader when Monotya pits. 174. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) *Montoya 175. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:34 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Montoya's gonna win on fuel mileage if this goes caution-free... Unless he speeds in the pits. Well, I did pick him to win... I think THE STORY of the race is Sage Karam though. Even though I did think he'd have a shot for a top ten, I didn't think he'd get up there THIS quickly especially on a day when passing is much harder than it was the past two years... 176. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Karam is BETTER than Munoz, so I'm not surprised (beat him in the Indy Lights championship last year...even though both of them got passed in the 4-wide photo finish.)" Karam was more consistent than Munoz, but not necessarily better. Karam generally could be counted on to finish inside the top 3; Munoz was either going to win the race or have mechanical problems. 177. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Really Huge Rocks is leading after starting 19th. 178. JG24FanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race is on track to be the fastest 500 mile race of all-time, beating out the 1997 Spring Talladega 500 miler, but only if it doesn't have a huge turn of events. 179. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Munoz was an Indy Lights veteran; Karam was a younger rookie, and as we've seen with Zach Veach's sudden and surprising improvement this year the veterans have a HUGE advantage. I haven't seen Karam do many stupid things, while Munoz does TONS of stupid things (crashing under caution at Barber, being unable to avoid Saavedra's stalled car at the Indy GP). And in this race, Karam despite starting way worse is one position behind Munoz despite driving a Dreyer & Reinbold car while Munoz is in an Andretti car... Yes, Karam's team is a Ganassi satellite so maybe the car is faster than I think it is, but Karam is way better. 180. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "This race is on track to be the fastest 500 mile race of all-time, beating out the 1997 Spring Talladega 500 miler, but only if it doesn't have a huge turn of events." If you're counting open wheel races, the fastest 500 mile race of all time was Jimmy Vasser's 2002 CART win at Fontana, which he won with an average speed of 197.995 mph. 181. JG24FanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "If you're counting open wheel races, the fastest 500 mile race of all time was Jimmy Vasser's 2002 CART win at Fontana, which he won with an average speed of 197.995 mph." Wow! That's fast. 182. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Okay, Karam dropped to 14th (and Kurt is only 3 positions behind him). I'll stop fanboying. 183. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Castroneves back to the lead. 184. Zackary Shawn posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't know if there's another race/sporting event taking place between the Indy 500 and the Coke 600, but at this rate, Kurt could probably go ahead and do that too and still make it to Charlotte with time to spare. 185. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:45 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Helio passes Really Huge Rocks. Good day for the yellow cars as those two, along with Marco seem to have the best cars now. Though Ed Carpenter is still lurking. And luckily a bad day for the yellow flag. I really like this caution free racing. Hope Brian France is watching. You don't need a yellow every 20 laps. 186. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) At about 60 percent completion, and we are STILL green. Hunter-Reay retakes the lead. 187. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Is there any inside racing-reference(dot)info joke I missed out on about Really Big Rocks? if so, don't bother telling me. 188. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ed Carpenter had to make an unscheduled stop, about 10 laps short of normal. He felt a tire going down. 189. Anonymous posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) We might get 500 miles of green flag racing. Montoya might stay undefeated in the Indy 500 if nothing changes. 190. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Is there any inside racing-reference(dot)info joke I missed out on about Really Big Rocks? if so, don't bother telling me." Re-read this comments page from the beginning. 191. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Newgarden runs out of fuel and has trouble getting the car re-started. 192. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sucks for my fave Newgarden... Most of the leaders leave me cold unfortunately. I don't see Hinchcliffe, Hildebrand, or Karam quite breaking into the top five... I'd rather see RHR, Marco, or Power (since they all seem overdue) than Helio though. By a LOT. 193. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Okay, Hildebrand's been in the top five, but I don't think he'll finish there... 194. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I've got to admit it's fair though. The fastest cars are up front, which is probably closer to pure racing than the lead change festivals of the last two years. It's just that few of the Ganassi/Andretti/Penske/Carpenter drivers are among my favorites... 195. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm confused. NESPN's leaderboard is stuck on lap 124. 196. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Long Shot, that was a complete creation from my warped mind. RHR is a fearless type driver. So I came up with another meaning for RHR. I hope he wins. Though it will be interesting tonsee how this Penske fuel deal plays out. Man I hope it goes green all the way. 197. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Montoya is going to be your winner if there are no yellows (which I don't think there will be). 198. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Power sped in the pits. Well, it doesn't look like he was going to win anyway, but that is REALLY costly for him in the championship since this race has double points. 199. MarkMartinFan posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If this goes green, I think Montoya will win. 200. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Speeding penalty for Power. 201. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 1:59 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) Montoya pit speeding. AGAIN. hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha 202. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:00 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) "Thank you IndyCar for screwing my day." 203. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Pit speeding strikes Montoya at Indy again. 204. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Now Montoya has been busted for speeding. I guess we can forget about him winning this race, then. 205. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) GOD D@NM IT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! 206. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Well, I can't say there's been Verizon penalty bias in this race... I'm glad to see the Verizon cars ARE getting penalized. I was worried they wouldn't be a couple races ago... 207. MarkMartinFan posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Oh man. Montoya bit by the speed bug AGAIN at Indy. 208. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Thank you, IndyCar, for screwing my day." 209. Smiff_2 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) MONTOYA! YOU'VE DONE IT AGAIN! JESUS! 210. Zackary Shawn posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:00 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Montoya speeding on pit road at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Never seen that before... 211. New14 & 88Fan posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Once again a pit road speeding penalty robs JPM of his shot to win at Indy. 212. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:01 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) EPIC FAIL!!!! In position to steal it on fuel, JPM chokes at Indy again. So does Will Power. There goes The Captain's fuel chances. But Montoya chokes at IMS again. 2009 2010 2014 213. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I was just joking in post 175! I actually thought Montoya was still going to win and wasn't going to screw it up! He's just lost what he had in CART and Formula One... He's pretty much the same kind of IndyCar driver now as he was a NASCAR driver before. I'm disappointed, 'cause he used to be so great... But greatness doesn't last forever. I mean I really didn't expect him to be slower than Castroneves and Power in this race (the road courses, sure...) Hey Penske, poach Sage Karam from Ganassi... 214. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) LOL at murb and I's posts. We must have some sort of psychic connection or something. 215. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This is really bloody painfull...Montoya was my #1 pick and I really thought he had it. 216. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Now I REALLY hope it goes green. 217. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:03 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "LOL at murb and I's posts. We must have some sort of psychic connection or something." lol, I'm having flashbacks to me and David on the 2012 Kansas page. 218. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:05 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) There you go Marco, just fly to the front and and burn up your fuel. While RHR just sits behind you. 219. NicoRosbergFan posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Nice and smooth thus far. 220. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) RHR not even thinking about passing right now even though his car his better and he is better. 221. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hildebrand and Hinchcliffe still have a shot, especially if there's a caution, but I'm starting to doubt that there will be... I'm not surprised Justin Wilson and Sebastien Bourdais with all their experience are quietly moving up. I'd like to see Wilson win too, since he's way better than his car. With Sage Karam having to pit earlier than the others, Kurt Busch might end up beating him on track. Sigh... Busch isn't doing a bad job, but I'm happy they've stopped talking about him. I hope if Karam beats Busch by a couple positions, the Indy 500 ROTY voters will pick Karam over Busch. They're both making their debuts in these cars after all... 222. NicoRosbergFan posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Damn! Yellow! 223. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kimball brings out the kaution. 224. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution. Charlie Kimball crashes. 225. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Charlie Kimball spins, finally a caution. 226. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution flag. Charlie Kimball has spun out and crashed. 227. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Great break for Montoya and Power after their penalties. 228. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) So do Carpenter, Hildebrand, and Karam stay out? I would. 229. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) D'oh! At least it was legitimate. 230. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:12 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Although I am disappointed to see that this race will not go caution-free...at least it was for something actually happening on the track and not for "debris". 231. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Charlie Kimball Crash, Turn 2 onto the backstretch. The car dosen't look terribly damaged. Apparently he almost lost it the lap before also. 232. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) So do Carpenter, Hildebrand, and Karam stay out? I would. If they're a lap down, they have to in order to get back on the lead lap. 233. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) They didn't lose a lap. 234. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If I was Carpenter or Hildebrand, I would definitely stay out. They've proven that they have fast cars. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea for Karam either. 235. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm wrong. Carpenter did not lose a lap; the other two did. 236. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wow, Townsend Bell is 6th off pit road. 237. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Oh. I thought Hildebrand was still on the lead lap too. Townsend Bell gained a spot on that pit stop. He's been solid all day. Hopefully he's able to get a good finish out of this. 238. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kurt Busch gained two spots in the pits. Looks like they have gotten his car better throughout the race. 239. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Karam and Hildebrand got wave-arounds. It looks like IndyCar's wave around is stupider than NASCAR's, because Hildebrand took a wave around but was still allowed to pit afterward without losing a lap. Oh well... 240. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) First restart of the day! 241. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A few others got laps back too including Villeneuve and Tagliani, I think... 242. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Green flag! Hunter-Reay effortlessly sweeps around Carpenter just after the restart. 243. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And Carpenter takes the lead back one lap later. 244. New14 & 88Fan posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Carpenter back to the lead. 245. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) With everyone running on full fuel, we may have a return to the constant slingshots as Carpenter goes back to the lead. 246. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And just like that, Hunter-Reay takes the lead back again. 247. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Really disappointed at how Pagenaud has run. I picked him to win, yet he's running 20th and has been a non factor all day. Great racing up at the front though. It's gonna get really fun as this race winds down. 248. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kurt Busch was gifted this top ten. Karam and Hildebrand were way faster and got hurt by that caution, and Power and Montoya just plain screwed up, although I bet they'll both pass Busch by the end nonetheless. 249. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I can't believe Ryan Briscoe is back on the lead lap, right behind Karam and ahead of Hildebrand. That seems so unfair. 250. Zackary Shawn posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Question for people who know more about this than me... Do they still have the push-to-pass? They haven't made as big a deal about it today as they have in years past. 251. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Carpenter back to the lead. 252. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Now this is getting good. 253. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) I hope RHR doesn't win. I want somebody different to win. RHR wins all to often. 254. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Do they still have the push-to-pass? They haven't made as big a deal about it today as they have in years past." I think they still have it on road and street courses but no longer have it on ovals. 255. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Woah, Dixon just wiped out! 256. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Big crash with Scott Dixon. 257. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dixon wrecks hard. 258. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bye bye Dixon. 259. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Scott Dixon crashes. 260. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I hope RHR doesn't win. I want somebody different to win. RHR wins all to often." Rather see him win than Helio, Marco, or Ed, but Townsend Bell would be awesome! Bell's a guy who's been underappreciated. Bell has THREE TOP TENS in one-offs in the Indy 500, and blew out Dan Wheldon to win the 2001 Indy Lights title, but never had any kind of full-time ride... 261. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Did that thing get airborne after hitting the wall!? 262. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Did NOT see that one coming. 263. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) At least they went for it. They knew they weren't fast enough, so they changed and took a chance with downforce. 264. New14 & 88Fan posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dixon just lost it. 265. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #260: WHAT'S WRONG WITH ED CARPENTER????? 266. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) So...anyone else feeling confident in Helio right now? 267. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And apparently Newgarden has crashed as well? 268. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Newgarden is sitting in the grass, so something happened with him too. 269. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dafuq happened to Newgarden???? 270. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Townsend Bell up to third off the pits! What a HUGE upset win that would be if he could win this race. 271. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bell up to 3rd! Marco is gonna have a Harvick-like rant about his pit crew after the race. 272. New14 & 88Fan posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What happened to Newgarden? 273. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Looks like Martin Plowman ran into Newgarden. 274. New14 & 88Fan posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Just showed a replay, looks like he got dumped. 275. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Martin Plowman just plowed into Newgarden... No pun intended. 276. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Newgarden got plowed by Plowman; who didn't slow for the caution. Go figure. 277. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Oh, and Newgarden got Timmy Hill'ed. (yes I know that Hill is a decent driver, but I don't know any better term that sounds catchy) 278. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Plowman lived up to his name and "plowed" into Newgarden. 279. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:35 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Martin Plowman plowed into him, just like he did to Franck Montagny sending him airborne at the road course race... How the hell did Plowman win the World Endurance Championship and Le Mans in the P2 class last year, not to mention beating Charlie Kimball when they were teammates in Indy Lights, and winning when Kimball didn't? Plowman looks awful. 280. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hope Townsend wins it. I agree with Sean, Townsend has always been one of the most underrated drivers. He's always been a really good oval driver. Plowman just ran over Newgarden. 281. MarkMartinFan posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:35 pm Rate this comment: (5) (0) As Ryan Newman would say, now I know why his name is Plowman, he'll plow a man out of the way. 282. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Plowman also almost caused a huge wreck earlier by holding up a bunch of the faster cars. 283. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Tagliani is the leader? 284. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Tagliani pits and relinquishes the lead. 285. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) He stayed out of the pits to get bonus points I guess. He was a lap down earlier, but there are a lot of new cars on the lead lap... 286. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Starting to get a 2010 Aaron's 499 vibe from thsi event. Wreck on the restart. 287. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) f**k, Hinchcliffe and Carpenter are out. f**k f**k f**k f**k f**k. 288. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Carpenter and Hinchcliffe crash on the restart! Not a great idea to go three wide in turn 1 on the restart... 289. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hinchcliffe and Carpenter crash each other on the restart. Carpenter is pissed. 290. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ed and Hinch collect each other in turn 1. 291. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Carpenter and Hinchcliffe wreck on the restart. Idiotic move trying to go 3-wide into the first turn. 292. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Carpenter and Hinchcliffe are probably two of the most irrate drivers right now. 293. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bell is up to second! 294. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bad move by Hinch. That move wasn't going to work. 295. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And screw all you guys for stealing my Plowman pun. :P 296. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Townsend was the one on the outside and he's the guy who somehow made it through. 297. New14 & 88Fan posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Hinch and Carpenter wreak on the restart. Close call for Townsend Bell. 298. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sato has backed into the top five now! Okay, I'm rooting for Bell and Sato now! 299. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Epic brutality for Carpenter. Just one of them racin' deals. Three guys going for the Indy 500. Nobody did anything wrong. 300. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hinchcliffe was way too over-zealous on that restart. I knew they were going to wreck when I saw him go three-wide. 301. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Townsend Bell caused that one by diving to the outside and making it 3-wide. There are aggressive moves and then there are stupid ones. This one falls in the latter category. 302. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sato has backed into the top five now! Okay, I'm rooting for Bell and Sato now! So we're not done with the dive-bombs yet. 303. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Did Cheever seriously just blame Townsend Bell for that crash? 304. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Oh shit, that was three wide!" Quote of the race 305. MarkMartinFan posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Seriously bummed for Ed Carpenter. 306. SpeedWorld97 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I really want Townsend Bell to win this race. 307. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) On second thought, I was wrong. It looked more like Bell and Hinchcliffe both dive-bombed the corner a bit and Carpenter got caught in the middle with nowhere to go. 308. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I guess I could see a little bit how Townsend contributed to that crash, but even if Townsend hadn't come down, Hinchcliffe still would have plowed into Carpenter. There was no way Hinch was making that corner. 309. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Let's try that again. 90 percent of the event is complete. 310. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lol. "That was THREE wide?". Sometimes racing is hilarious. Like Chad's hair plugs said, quote of the race. Still hate it for Ed. But that was nobody's fault. And yes Cheever is blaming Townsend cause he is a moron. Am I wrong in saying Cheever is the worst driver ever to win the Indy 500? 311. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Go Helio...? Three wide again!? They hold it together this time though. 312. Smiff_2 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This is going to be crazy! 313. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) WHERE DID TAKUMA SATO COME FROM?????? 314. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hunter-Reay has a phenomenal restart, while Bell falls to third. 315. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Castroneves shoots past Bell. Meanwhile, Andretti goes to the lead! 316. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) MUNOZ???????? 317. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Andretti to the lead. 18 to go. 318. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Munoz up into the top 5. 319. New14 & 88Fan posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) RHR back to the lead. 320. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (5) #AnybodyButHunterReay 321. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Castroneves is coming... 322. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:50 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Lol. "That was THREE wide?". Sometimes racing is hilarious. Like Chad's hair plugs said, quote of the race. Still hate it for Ed. But that was nobody's fault. And yes Cheever is blaming Townsend cause he is a moron. Am I wrong in saying Cheever is the worst driver ever to win the Indy 500?" Yeah, it would probably have to go to one of the 4 guys who won when the CART drivers weren't competing. Arie Luyendyk won a 500 against the big guys too. Kenny Brack at least was the dominant driver on ovals in CART too. Buddy Lazier won an IRL title and Cheever didn't for a team that I think was weaker, while Cheever drove for Ganassi in CART and failed to win a race... It's between Lazier and Cheever, but I'd say Cheever... 323. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I like Helio personally, but I'll be pretty disappointed if he wins. 324. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Castroneves to the lead! 325. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Helio back up front. 326. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) #AnybodyButCastroneves 327. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) RHR vs Andretti vs Helio 40 miles and counting. 328. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #PleaseHelio 329. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) THIS IS GETTING GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 330. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Fantastic racing for the lead right now. 331. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:52 pm Rate this comment: (7) (1) #AnybodyButJimmieJohnson 332. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Martin Plowman needs to get off the race track. 333. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) GET OUT OF THE WAY PLOWMAN 334. New14 & 88Fan posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) We're in for a fantastic finish, I can feel it in my bones. 335. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Plowman gets out of the way of the leaders. 336. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And he does. Wise move. 337. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:54 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) They aren't screwing around anymore. This is awesome. If Cheever's mic would fail, this would be perfect. 338. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Go Gordon! Oh wait... 339. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I kind of hope Montoya still wins it somehow, lol 340. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I can't believe Ryan Briscoe has backed into the top ten. Kurt Busch too. So Busch is gonna be ROTY, no matter how much stronger Karam actually was if you watched the race... 341. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Briscoe is in the top 10?! 342. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 25 miles to go. RHR leading. Helio 2nd. Andretti 3rd. MOVE GUYS! Cuation! Big crash! 343. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Coats the track in debris. 344. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Damn, Townsend Bell has a big crash. HATE that. 345. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Townsend Bell's car is just...destroyed. 346. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) HUGE crash for Townsend Bell. 347. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Townsend Bell wrecks! Dammit, I was hoping he would get a strong finish... 348. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was me. Caution out. Are you kidding me? Where? KA-BOOM!! 349. New14 & 88Fan posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Huge wreak for Townsend Bell, hope he's alright. 350. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wicked rear end hit. 351. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well then. Will be a fun 3 or 4 laps. 352. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:56 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Red flag. Best idea. 353. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kurt Busch JUST got through. Red flag is out. 354. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:56 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Red flag. Love that call. 355. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Why is Saavedra messing up every single race.... 356. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:57 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Great move to red flag the race. Gives us a chance for a short green flag run to the finish. Apparently the debris came off of Sebastien Saavedra. 357. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:57 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Yes! Red flag. #thankyouIndy 358. Karma posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:58 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Hey, Townsend, I'm a b!tch. 359. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ed Carpenter is pissed. 360. Zackary Shawn posted: 05.25.2014 - 2:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I didn't even know IndyCar even had red flags. I thought they were content to just run the laps out under yellow. 361. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Carpenter on Hinchcliffe: "It's a good thing he already has a concussion" 362. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Three rookies in the top 15-James Davison is running 15th. 363. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Damn, Kurt's all the way up to 6th? 364. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) And now I don't feel bad for Ed anymore. It is fine to be mad. Making fun of his concussion was a dick move. 365. NicoRosbergFan posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) ^Having been there TWICE in my life, I am not impressed with Ed. 366. Zackary Shawn posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:02 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "And now I don't feel bad for Ed anymore. It is fine to be mad. Making fun of his concussion was a dick move." That isn't what he did... 367. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kurt might get a top 5 in his Indy debut. 368. Jracingfast posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Great idea to red flag it!......This is gonna get good!!!!!! Will the andretti curse end? Can Helio win again? Will Hunter-Rhey prevail??? Are will someone else shock the racing world?!?!?!? ........Stay tuned this is gonna be EPIC! 369. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Reapirs being done to the wall and safer barrier. 370. NicoRosbergFan posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) We all know Hinch's nose upset the balance of his car... 371. DB1995 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) How many spots has kurt picked up through attrition? Either way i am shocked that hes still in it 372. Rusty posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If Kurt somehow ended up winning, that would be one of the craziest things ever. 373. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #366 is right. He simply said it was a good thing that he already had one, cause he wanted to knock him in the back of the head. 374. cjs3872 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The interesting thing about Townsend Bell's crash is that they had already called for the caution for debris at the beginning of the backstretch (a wing plate from the #17 car). Also, Bell's crash apparently damaged the SAFER barrier, so if they were going to try to finish under green, the had to stop the race. 375. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kurt has had a lot of help through attrition, but he's still done a great job today. For his first ever IndyCar start (let alone his first Indy 500), he's been damn impressive. 376. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "How many spots has kurt picked up through attrition? Either way i am shocked that hes still in it" Dixon was ahead of him and crashed. Bell was ahead of him and crashed. Carpenter and Hinchcliffe was ahead of him and crashed. Power was ahead of him and sped in the pits. Hildebrand and Karam were ahead of him and got trapped a lap down. So, I'd say he gained 7 positions through attrition. Pretty much all the guys from 4th-10th have really backed into it. I'm so annoyed Busch is gonna get ROTY when Karam has been way more impressive, especially since he's in a worse car. I suppose Karam could still finish higher though. 377. MarkMartinFan posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:06 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Yeah I gotta agree with ZackaryShawn and numbah10hatah, Ed was definitely not making fun of Hinch's injury. 378. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hinchcliffe takes the blame. Interesting. 379. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "#366 is right. He simply said it was a good thing that he already had one, cause he wanted to knock him in the back of the head." That's still making light of the concussion... 380. NicoRosbergFan posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sage Karam is in 13th on the lead lap... 381. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) But Karam has been really impressive too. He's got a really bright future. 382. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hildebrand and Karam were trapped a lap down by that caution because they pitted right before the caution came out, causing them to be passed by a lot of people who were behind them. 383. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Engines are being re-fired! 384. Zackary Shawn posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:11 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) "That's still making light of the concussion..." No it isn't. Saying something along the lines of "that concussion must have caused him to be so stupid" would, but not what he said. 385. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) One lap until they go green! 386. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:11 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Honestly I'm leaning towards Marco here. But it's gonna be really close between all these guys. 387. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) #AnybodyButRHR 388. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I really hope this race goes green to the end. That said, I'm not holding out any hope, based on the amount of recent cautions and the trend that the finishes of this race have had over the last few years. 389. New14 & 88Fan posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Helio to the lead! 390. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Castroneves to the lead! 391. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Helio to the lead with 5 to go. 392. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bold move by Hunter-Reay to take the lead! 393. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:15 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) RHR power move. Holy shit. 394. Anonymous posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hello Helio! 395. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) COME ON HELIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 396. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Helio back to the lead! 397. New14 & 88Fan posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What a move by RHR. And Helio grabs the lead back. Man this is exciting! 398. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hunter-Reay to the lead with one lap to go! This is going to be intense... 399. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This is fantastic. 400. numbah10hatah posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (10) f**k f**k f**k f**k f**k f**k f**k f**k 401. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Castroneves is closing, but it's not going to be enough! Ryan Hunter-Reay wins the Indy 500! 402. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hunter-Reay!! 403. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) RHR just cemented himself as a legend in my mind. Those passes were insane. Hell yes. AWESOME race. 404. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Congrats to RHR. Really was pulling hard for Helio, but that last pass was done just perfectly...Just wow. So nice to see this run to the end green. No ending caution. 405. Zackary Shawn posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:18 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) That's Robby Gordon's sister? 406. Jracingfast posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:18 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) USA USA USA! 407. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Maybe he couldn't, but Helio pulled out too late to nip him at the line. 408. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:19 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) First American to win it since Hornish in 2006. 409. New14 & 88Fan posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That was amazing! Congrats to Ryan Hunter-Reay and the entire #28 DHL Andretti Autosport team. Excellent job by Kurt Busch coming in sixth. Wish him all the luck in the world for the 600 tonight. 410. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Phenomenal job by Hunter-Reay. He was REALLY determined to win this race; that pass he made on Helio going into turn 3 was ballsy as all hell! 411. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:19 pm Rate this comment: (4) (0) Epic last laps!!!! Congrats to Really Huge Rocks. Hell of a run for Helio too. Two of the best duking it out on the biggest stage. Just awesome. Oh, and one last thing: USA! USA! 412. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kurt Busch gets a solid sixth in his Indy debut and (most likely) will by RotY. I wonder if he'll be able to back it up at the Coke 600? 413. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (4) Yes, RHR is married to Robby Gordon's sister. Outstanding passes. First half was pretty boring, but glad to see it picked up, and glad to see Helio didn't win, but it's still impressive for RHR to beat somebody so consistent at Indy that way... Kurt Busch will be voted ROTY and hyped a ton for this, even though he backed into it. I'm happy to see Karam and Hildebrand made it back to the top ten though. They deserved it, and as much fun as I've made of Hildebrand, they both deserve full time rides. 414. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) It's going to be hard, again, for the Coke 600 to better this event. CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG Hey David Bowie, say something funny about this milk. 415. We need more Onion posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:22 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) I can live with RHR winning. He is all right and earned this one. The concern I have is: Why do we have to watch their wives when the lead is up for grabs and there is 2-3 to go? Well, at least I don't have to see Ashley Judd anymore... Go Kurt, be late and let Parker start. 416. joey2448 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DSFF is right. RHR has big f**kin balls of steel!! I am so happy!!! 417. DB1995 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The top 2 drivers were the 2 most determined drivers battling for the win i have ever seen in my life this race gets an A++, incredible race. 418. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:22 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Sage Karam, the 19-year-old Ganassi prospect in a Ganassi satellite for Dreyer & Reinbold, beat all four of the actual Ganassi drivers. And meanwhile full-season Ganassi driver Ryan Briscoe dropped from 8th to 18th at the end. Why does Briscoe have the full-time ride and Karam not? Andretti clearly had the best cars in this race, so Busch's 6th doesn't look nearly as impressive to me. 419. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also, congrats to Busch. He's almost a lock for Indy ROTY. Yes, he had one of the better cars and 'backed' into the spot he finished in. Still feel terrible for Montoya, but the excitement of the finish neutralizes it almost completely. 2nd closest finish in Indy 500 history, right up there with 1992 and 2006. 420. The Long Shot posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:26 pm Rate this comment: (4) (0) "The concern I have is: Why do we have to watch their wives when the lead is up for grabs and there is 2-3 to go? Well, at least I don't have to see Ashley Judd anymore..." Imagine the awkwardness that would ensue if Travis Kvapil won the Indy 500. 421. Zackary Shawn posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) For what it's worth, I have no problem seeing the reactions of the people who mean the most to the driver. 422. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:28 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) RHR's son is like "It's not from Mom, I don't want that milk, even if it is legendary." ...maybe that was an inappropriate joke? 423. Rusty posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:28 pm Rate this comment: (4) (0) Kurt did awesome, certainly showed he is capable of driving anything. 424. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:29 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Helio is a class act. He'll get #4. 425. DB1995 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) My worst fear about the aftermath of this race is coming true, they are already acting like 6th is more impressive than the winner. 426. NicoRosbergFan posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) I have watched every Indy 500 since 2005, plus I have watched the replays of most every before that, and THIS was the best one I ever saw because it came down to which driver had the biggest balls unlike last year's mock restrictor plate race. 427. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:31 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I do give Kurt Busch credit for adapting quickly. He had an impressive run at the end, drove cleanly and smoothly, and made it to the finish. I wasn't very surprised. He doesn't crash THAT often in Cup, and he DOES know how to drive conservatively when his brain is functioning. Unfortunately, it often isn't. He still finished behind all three of his teammates who finished the race...but a lot of more experienced drivers were a lot dumber, so... 428. DB1995 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I agree DSFF i do not understand the hate for Helio 429. NicoRosbergFan posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:32 pm Rate this comment: (4) (0) "f**k f**k f**k f**k f**k f**k f**k f**k " Care to make a further dick of yourself today? 430. Zackary Shawn posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:32 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "My worst fear about the aftermath of this race is coming true, they are already acting like 6th is more impressive than the winner." No they aren't. They have barely even mentioned Kurt. 431. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:33 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "My worst fear about the aftermath of this race is coming true, they are already acting like 6th is more impressive than the winner." lol, They haven't even mentioned Kurt yet. 432. cjs3872 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It seemed that after his crash after qualifying, that Kurt Busch's biggest goal was just to finish the race, so he ran a conservative race, which ended up giving him a sixth-place finish, but I believe had he been more aggressive on those restarts, he might have been in that battle for the win. Now I don't think he could have beaten either of the first two or three, but he could have finished fourth or fifth had been more aggressive. It's interesting to note that none of the places immediately behind the first two changed hands. And in a way, this was a replay of the 2006 finish, but in reverse, because in that race, the Penske car beat the Andretti car, but the reverse happened today. But this isn't the first time a Penske car has lost a duel at Indy. Think back to 1982 and '86, when Rick Mears had the best car, but made a critical error on his final pit stop in '82, and got outrun in '86. 433. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I definitely gained a lot more respect for Kurt as a driver today. He did pick up some spots through attrition, but still, he adapted to a completely different type of race car really quickly and made no mistakes. Even if he hadn't picked up some "free" positions, he probably would have ended up about 13th or so, which is still very good for any Indy 500 rookie. I'm really impressed with Karam too. Hopefully Ganassi gives him a full time ride sooner rather than later. 434. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:36 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) It was great folks, I'm off, see you in Charlotte for Dinner. 435. NicoRosbergFan posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^Here comes the "Marco is cursed" bullsh!t. 436. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kurt may have gone straight to the chopper to get to the Indy airport. Jaime Little and a camera man may have been able to hop on the golf cart and do an interview mid-transit. 437. NicoRosbergFan posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:39 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) And just think that right there is a good American boy and this here is the biggest race in America and this is the weekend to remember American armed forces and... USA!!!!! 438. Schroeder51 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:40 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "I definitely gained a lot more respect for Kurt as a driver today. He did pick up some spots through attrition, but still, he adapted to a completely different type of race car really quickly and made no mistakes. Even if he hadn't picked up some "free" positions, he probably would have ended up about 13th or so, which is still very good for any Indy 500 rookie." Agree, I kind of honestly expected Kurt to crash out of this race early driving over his head, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him take it easy, have a mistake-free race, and get a good solid finish, even if attrition helped him. Granted, Karam might have been more impressive coming from nearly the back of the field to run in the top 10 at times, but either way, I'm definitely impressed with Kurt's performance. I wonder if he'll attempt the 500 again in the near future? 439. Sarf52 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Great race. Coke 600 on deck baby! 440. I have never posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Doesn't anyone else believe that IF Kurt Busch had won today that he would EVER get to race whole Charlotte race? I mean, the winner is just now doing the victory lap, and still has to kiss the bricks. No chance a driver could possibly do both FULL races on a day. It is a logistical nightmare. 441. DB1995 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I should have specified that i was talking about on twitter not tv 442. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:41 pm Rate this comment: (4) (1) "I agree DSFF i do not understand the hate for Helio" Dancing with the Stars makes me sick. Didn't care for his tax evasion deal. When they were racing in CART, Jimmy Vasser said that Helio was his "favorite actor", joking that he wasn't genuine and everything seemed choreographed, and that is how I feel. Hinchcliffe and Newgarden truly have zany personalities, while Castroneves's act just comes off as less genuine to me. Then when I see somebody who seems to be lucking into things a lot (Helio's 500s - especially 2002 - I'm not necessarily going to argue Paul Tracy won, but when one of his wins is disputed and he has more Indy wins than a LOT of drivers I considered to be much better), I consider it to be very annoying... I was also annoyed by Dario lucking to Indy wins and titles as I saw it... And I really didn't think he belonged on a list with Foyt, Unser, and Mears, when I consider him to be way worse (especially since most of his greatest success was against a diluted field and he still didn't win a title). That's just it. Just my opinion and you're welcome to disagree... 443. NicoRosbergFan posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:42 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Prediction: Kurt finishes off the lead lap at Charlotte. That #41 SUCKS BAD. 444. We need more Onion posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wish I could watch the Coke 600... but that would make me do an all-nighter and I do have commitments tomorrow. Wishing you guys a fun race. 445. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I have watched every Indy 500 since 2005, plus I have watched the replays of most every before that, and THIS was the best one I ever saw because it came down to which driver had the biggest balls unlike last year's mock restrictor plate race." I thought it was a lot better than most of the split-era IRL 500s and the early years after Champ Car and IRL merged. 2007-2010 struck me as really boring. Passing was much harder this year than in 2012 and 2013, so lead changes seemed a lot more meaningful this year than the previous two. I think I agree with that. This year had better balance like 2011 between boring and somewhat artificially exciting, and the green flag finish really helps here, even if the first half was somewhat boring. 446. Jracingfast posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Disappointed by the lack of post race interviews 447. Zackary Shawn posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:45 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) "Didn't care for his tax evasion deal." You mean those charges that a jury of his peers found him NOT GUILTY on for all six charges of the indictment. Seems like a dumb thing to hold against him. 448. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Fair point, but my main issues are not seeing him as genuine and really him seeming to luck into things again and again and again and it might not be rational... 449. cjs3872 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:50 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Exactly, @436. Maybe the reason they haven't interviewed Kurt is because they can't, but you can be sure that Kurt's run will be at the very top of FOX's pre-race for the Coca-Cola 600, as I think it should be. When you think of the NASCAR drivers that ran the Indianapolis 500 while they were NASCAR or stock car drivers (this includes when USAC had their own stock car series), the only stock car driver to even approach what Kurt accomplished in their debut race was Donnie Allison, who was fourth in 1970. By the way, he had dominated the World 600 six days earlier. And like Busch, Allison had a wealth of knowledge to draw off of in 1970, as he was driving for A.J. Foyt, and had veteran drivers such as Jim McElreath among his teammates. The other stock car drivers that ran Indy had horrid debuts. Paul Goldsmith was in that huge crash in 1958, his rookie year at Indy, Cale Yarborough was in that huge crash at the start of the race in 1966, LeeRoy Yarbrough was terrible in 1967, being involved in two different crashes, and Bobby Allison lasted only one lap in the infamous 1973 race before a broken connecting rod bolt sidelined him, though he might have run very well had he been given the opportunity. The other drivers that we know as NASCAR drivers that also ran Indy actually ran Indy first, a list that includes Tim Richmond, Tony Stewart, John Andretti, and even the late Jason Leffler, and of those, only Richmond did well in his maiden Indy start, finishing ninth in the caution-plagued 1980 race. But I don't count any of them because they were Indy drivers first. So for Kurt Busch to come into Indy and finish sixth, on the lead lap, is a phenomenal performance on his part, which also show just what a great job Donnie did at Indy the two years he ran that race for Foyt (he finished sixth in 1971 driving for A.J.). 450. Zackary Shawn posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This isn't going to be a popular opinion most likely, but I liked Daytona more than Indy this year. That wasn't the case last year. 451. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:54 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I don't mind Helio's personality or "celebrity status". I just didn't want him to win because I really have a hard time seeing him on a list with Foyt, Mears, and Unser. To me, Helio winning four Indy 500s would be the equivalent of like Dale Jr winning seven Daytona 500s. Helio and Jr are both great at Indy and Daytona respectively, but even if they became co-all-time-wins leaders in those races, they would be kind of the outsiders on those lists. Helio isn't nearly as good as Foyt/Mears/Unser, just like Dale Jr isn't nearly as good as Richard Petty. But like I said, I have no problems with Helio personally. He seems like a pretty good guy. 452. DH101 posted: 05.25.2014 - 3:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Congrats to RHR, well deserved. And also congrats to my favorite driver Kurt Busch for finishing 6th in his first ever Indy start, in the Indy 500 no less. 453. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 4:07 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "I don't mind Helio's personality or "celebrity status". I just didn't want him to win because I really have a hard time seeing him on a list with Foyt, Mears, and Unser. To me, Helio winning four Indy 500s would be the equivalent of like Dale Jr winning seven Daytona 500s. Helio and Jr are both great at Indy and Daytona respectively, but even if they became co-all-time-wins leaders in those races, they would be kind of the outsiders on those lists. Helio isn't nearly as good as Foyt/Mears/Unser, just like Dale Jr isn't nearly as good as Richard Petty." That would probably be the more objective argument. Must...stop...getting...emotional...while...typing... 454. cjs3872 posted: 05.25.2014 - 4:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In fact, if you were to grade Helio among just the other three-time winners, I would have to rank him last, and pretty close to the bottom among ALL the multiple winners, which would include the two-timers. One significant reason is that he's one of only two drivers to have won the Indianapolis 500 more than once that chased a championship not to have won at least one championship going all the way back to the AAA days, the other one being Arie Luyendyk, who was a high-speed track specialist. Wilbur Shaw and Bill Vukovich never won a championship, but they never raced for one. At least Dario Franchitti won FOUR IndyCar championships, one of just four drivers that can say that (the others being A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, and Sebastian Bourdais), and he and A.J. Foyt are the only two drivers to have won that many championships and multiple Indianapolis 500s. And by the way, I think we would have seen much more passing, but the fuel mileage tactics in the first 150 laps of the race prevented that, because they knew they had to maximize their fuel runs, especially when it became apparent that Juan Montoya had everyone else covered in that regard. But once that first caution came out, this race looked an awful lot like last year's, in terms of the passing up front. Let's also not forget that the best car won the race. Remember that Ryan Hunter-Reay charged from 19th to the lead under the green flag, and his car seemed to be able to stay tucked closer to cars in front of him than any other car in the race, which allowed him to make those runs that others had to start from farther behind. Also, has anyone noticed the classic NASCAR connection to many of the leading finishers. After all car #s 28 and 3 were 1-2, the #34, most associated in racing with newly-minted NASCAR Hall of Famer Wendell Scott, was fourth, and the two drivers with all the NASCAR and drafting experience, Juan Montoya and Kurt Busch, were fifth and sixth, which incidentally, is exactly where they finished in the 2011 Daytona 500. Had Kurt been able to move up to fifth ahead of Montoya, he would have joined a very exclusive club of drivers that have top five finishes in both the Daytona 500 (a race in which he's finished second three times) and the Indianapolis 500, a list that obviously includes A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti, the only two drivers to have won both races, and also includes, but I don't think is limited to, Al Unser, Sr., Donnie Allison, Paul Goldsmith, Dan Gurney, and much more recently, Tony Stewart. Kurt almost joined that very exclusive group today as top five finishers in both the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500. That's why I said his was a phenomenal performance, especially for someone that had never driven an IndyCar race before this one. And murb, I gained much more respect for Kurt as a race driver last year when he put the little #78 Furniture Row Racing team from Denver into the Chase last year. Just look at how much they struggled before he got there and after he left. Their trials and tribulations before Kurt got there and after he left says it all about Kurt as a race driver. not his championship, his Charlotte SpeedWeks sweep in 2010, or even his performance today, but what he did last year in the #78 car in the Cup Series was what told me what a great race driver he is, something many took for granted until then. But he's reminded us twice this year, first by outdueling Jimmie Johnson at Martinsville and then his performance at Indy today. Trust me, he's going to get congratulations and an ovation prior to the Coca-Cola 600 that he's never heard before for him, both from the NASCAR garage area and the crowd at Charlotte, and he deserves every bit of it. I think he's going to be greeted like a conquering hero by the fans at Charlotte, and rightfully so. And the type of cheers usually associated with an Earnhardt or Elliott are going to be coming his way later this afternoon. 455. epzik8 posted: 05.25.2014 - 4:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I knew Ryan would win this race someday. Congratulations to him. And Kurt Busch did great too in his series debut. Now he gets to race 600 more miles! 456. SpeedWorld97 posted: 05.25.2014 - 4:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "For what it's worth, I have no problem seeing the reactions of the people who mean the most to the driver." I feel the same way. In fact, I thought it was cool when they did that with Al Unser Jr's and Emerson Fittipaldi's wives back in 1989. I honestly thought that this year's 500 was better than 2012, but not as good as last year. The fans finally got the finish they were waiting for with this DW12, and it produced a fabulous finish. RHR is very deserving of winning the Indy 500, and he can now say that he's an Indy 500 winner and a series champion. It looked just like the 1992 finish in my opinion. I'd give it an 8 out of 10. 457. SpeedWorld97 posted: 05.25.2014 - 4:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "This isn't going to be a popular opinion most likely, but I liked Daytona more than Indy this year. That wasn't the case last year." I honestly thought both were very good this year (and I say that as a person who is not a big fan of RHR, though I did gain a lot of respect for him today and a big Dale Jr. fan). 458. startandparkfan posted: 05.25.2014 - 4:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Great race! While I would rather see an underdog win since this is one of those races where everyone has a shot, RHR is one of my favorite drivers, right next to Sato. 459. 23andJoe posted: 05.25.2014 - 4:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #2 sponsor: Verizon #3 sponsor: Pennzoil #5 sponsor: Dollar General #6 sponsor: Robert Graham #7 sponsor: SMP Bank #8 sponsor: NTT Data/TNT #9 sponsor: Target #10 sponsor: Target #11 sponsor: Hydroxycut/Mistic Electronic Cigarettes/Circle K #12 sponsor: Verizon #14 sponsor: ABC Supply Co. #15 sponsor: National Guard #16 sponsor: Mi-Jack #17 sponsor: Automatic Fire Sprinklers #18 sponsor: Cafe de Colombia #19 sponsor: Boy Scouts of America #20 sponsor: Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka #21 sponsor: Preferred Freezer Services #22 sponsor: Comfort Revolution #25 sponsor: Smapple #26 sponsor: SureTone #27 sponsor: United Fiber & Data #28 sponsor: DHL #33 sponsor: Always Evolving Racing/Humax #34 sponsor: AndrettiTV.com #41 sponsor: ABC Supply Co. #63 sponsor: Susan G. Komen Foundation #67 sponsor: Hartman Oil #68 sponsor: Hartman Oil #77 sponsor: Lucas Oil/Protect the Harvest #83 sponsor: NovoLog FlexPen #91 sponsor: University of Iowa Stephen A. Wynn Institute for Vision Research #98 sponsor: Integrity Energee Drink 460. Dave #38 Fan-Go Gilliland! posted: 05.25.2014 - 5:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't see why so many people think the first 150 laps of this race were boring, to me it brought back a lot a memories of Indy 500's for the 1980's. I've watched a lot of those on youtube lately, and often at the start of the race around 8-9 cars would have a legitimate shot at winning and as the race went on contenders dropped out until only 2-3 drivers were left to go for the win in the final stages. To me, the first 150 laps of today's race had that feel. Every round of pit stops, the leaders would pull farther away from the rest of the field, and as drivers like Carpenter, Montoya, and Power had pit problems or got off sequence it looked like the #28, #3, and #25 would have fought for the win among themselves had the race gone green. The Indy 500 has traditionally been a race of slow attrition and today just had that feel for me. 461. IndyCaRHRacer28 posted: 05.25.2014 - 5:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yea my boy Hunter-Reay got one today!!!! So excited, it's been great to see him come close, but even greater now that he's won. Hate to rush the Webmaster, but when's the results & stats gonna be up? 462. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 5:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I guess compared to the last 50 laps, the first 150 weren't as heart stopping, but that was still some damn good racing. They were saving fuel. 463. cjs3872 posted: 05.25.2014 - 5:36 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) The difference between this race and the shootouts in 1989 and '92 was that the '89 and '92 races were terrible, one-sided races that got lucky to have a shootout at the end (Emerson Fittipaldi was so dominant that he ran almost every other big name driver out of the '89 race, leading 155 laps, and Michael Andretti was even more dominant in the 1992 crashfest, leading 162 of the 188 laps he ran). But today's race was a good, competitive one from start-to-finish, beginning with the fact that the first three-quarters of the race were run under green, though the rash of cautions late cost this race the record that it had virtually been assured of having. And having an American win the race was an added plus for this one, something Ryan Hunter-Reay made sure everyone knew in victory lane. And as for those that might be complaining about ABC showing the drivers' wives in the late going. That's something that actually goes back to the days when the race was shown on same-day tape delay in prime time. Just check out some of the races in the 70s and 80s when the race was shown in that manner. They never even showed Johnny Rutherford getting the checkered flag in 1974 because they had a shot of Betty Rutherford in the pits. And they did that with Bobby Unser's then-wife Marcia in 1981 and Rick Mears' then-wife Deena in 1982. So that goes farther back than just about anyone realizes. ABC has always prided itself on showing the human emotions of those that had a vested interest in the competition. That's why their sports coverage was always top of the line back in the old days. And the shots we saw after the race of both Ryan Hunter-Reay and Helio Castroneves were shots that, in the words of the legendary Howard Cosell, no words were needed to describe what you were seeing. Once again, that old line from ABC's Wide World of Sports, "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" were never better described than in what we saw in the moments after the race. 464. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 6:28 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Well at least there is no argument whatsoever as to who the worst driver to win multiple Daytona 500s is. 465. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 7:17 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) "Well at least there is no argument whatsoever as to who the worst driver to win multiple Daytona 500s is." Clearly Michael Waltrip. 466. Anonymous posted: 05.25.2014 - 7:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) nascar fans be jealous. go watch 600 miles of boredom xD 467. murb posted: 05.25.2014 - 7:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) But I do agree with CJS about Helio being towards the bottom of the Indy 500 multiple winners list. The only person that I would maybe rank below him would be Arie Luyendyk. But yeah, I definitely think Helio is towards the bottom, especially when you compare him to some of his contemporaries that have multiple wins (Franchitti and Wheldon - and although Kanaan only has one win, I think you could easily make a case for Kanaan over Helio just because of Kanaan's history at Indy). 468. Dave #38 Fan-Go Gilliland! posted: 05.25.2014 - 8:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "The difference between this race and the shootouts in 1989 and '92 was that the '89 and '92 races were terrible, one-sided races that got lucky to have a shootout at the end" One-sided doesn't equal terrible. Those are two of my favorite 500's of all time and not just because of the finishes. Despite the dominant cars that was a lot of racing throughout the field. Not to mention that those two races had some of the most stacked 500 fields of all-time. 469. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.25.2014 - 9:50 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) It's funny. Rick Mears is the worst driver to have 4 Indy 500 wins. Technically it's true, as Foyt and Big Al were the greatest of their generations. It is funny seeing "Rick Mears" and "worst" in the same sentence. 470. Mike Daly posted: 05.25.2014 - 11:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It is amazing how good the racing is at Indianapolis with this car, now completing its third Indianapolis 500. The draft, while not as powerful as last year, nonetheless was very effective. Question - was this the fastest 500-mile race of any kind in history? 471. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 11:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) No. The 2013 Indianapolis 500 was slightly faster (45 seconds shorter) and the 2002 CART race at Fontana had an average speed of 197.995 mph. 472. Sean posted: 05.25.2014 - 11:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Oh, the 1997 Winston 500 was faster too... 473. cjs3872 posted: 05.26.2014 - 1:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @468, when two cars put six laps on the entire field and the leader runs every other big name out of the race within 120 laps, which was the case at the 1989 Indianapolis 500, then I would call that a bad race. (In fact, that race is comparable to the 1985 Daytona 500 for those very reasons.) And the 1992 Indianapolis 500 may have been THE worst Indianapolis 500 ever run, even worse than the terrible races in 1964 and '73. In fact, it wasn't until deep in the second half of that race that the number of laps run under the green finally exceeded the number of laps run under caution, that race was so crash-marred. And it wasn't very competitive until Michael Andretti dropped out, either. If not for the fact that those two races got lucky and had dramatic two-car shootouts, those would be two of the more forgettable races in Indy history, and I think the '92 race still is one of the most forgettable in Indy history, if you look at the race as a whole. There's no doubt about the field of champions in those races, but the races themselves were not very good at all. In fact, they were lousy races that happened to have memorable finishes. 474. b4il3y posted: 05.26.2014 - 3:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) DaleSrFanForever posted: It's funny. Rick Mears is the worst driver to have 4 Indy 500 wins. This statement invalidated anything you ever said ever. 475. NicoRosbergFan posted: 05.26.2014 - 4:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) ^Hey, dickbag, last time I checked Al Unser and A.J. Foyt were WAY better than Rick. 476. DaleSrFanForever posted: 05.26.2014 - 6:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dude, that was the point. It looks bizarre to read. 477. Greg posted: 05.26.2014 - 9:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mechanical DNF: Lazier - clutch 478. NazRacePhan posted: 05.27.2014 - 9:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) A milestone in competitors.... there have now been over 750 drivers to start the Indy 500 (754 total) 479. bduddy posted: 05.30.2014 - 2:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Webmaster, where did you get these points totals from? They're different in many respects from the official box score (which I'm pretty sure is in itself wrong) 480. webmaster posted: 05.30.2014 - 7:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @479: They are from the official boxscore, but also take into account the 10-point penalties which were assigned to some drivers after the race (although those may be appealed). 481. Steve posted: 06.02.2014 - 2:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Total Driver Experience in the Field: 149 previous starts in 97 prior Indianapolis 500s. (+5 from 2013) Most Experienced Driver at Indianapolis in 2014: Buddy Lazier (17 starts). Former Barber Winners in the Field: Castroneves (3), Villeneuve, Lazier, Montoya, Dixon, & Kanaan. Total IndyCar Wins by Drivers in the Field: 195 (-3 from 2013) Total National Championships: 12 Most Wins: 32 (Dixon) Most Titles: 4 (Bourdais) Rookies at Barber: Kurt Busch, Sage Karam, James Davison, Carlos Huertas, Jack Hawksworth, Mikhail Aleshin, & Martin Plowman. Yes, I've been late with these, but I've been watching! RHR! USA! 482. John Paulson posted: 01.30.2015 - 1:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) cjs3872-In post #463 there is a third component to that WWOS intro that is often forgotten but just as important. "The human drama of athletic competition". And as stated that was(and is) still a big part of ABC Sports coverage. 483. Pacer posted: 05.16.2015 - 11:15 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The pace car for this Indy 500 was a new Chevrolet Camaro Z/28. 484. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 06.03.2018 - 1:51 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) First Indy 500 starts for Sage Karam, James Davison, Jack Hawksworth, and Mikhail Aleshin. Only Indy 500 starts to date for Kurt Busch, Carlos Huertas, and Martin Plowman. Last Indy 500 start to date for Jacques Villeneuve. 485. SweetRich posted: 02.29.2020 - 6:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The commentators for the race were Allen Bestwick, Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever. The pit road reporters were Jerry Punch, Vince Welch, Jamie Little and Rick DeBruhl. 486. RaceFanX posted: 08.23.2020 - 1:39 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Segments for an episode of the Discovery Channel series "MegaSpeed" were filmed during this race and the action leading up to it, focusing on James Hinchcliffe and his team as they bounced back from his head injury during the Indy Grand Prix. 487. Rich posted: 12.23.2020 - 6:37 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The studio host was Lindsay Czarniak. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: