Franchitti Finishes Seventh at Indianapolis 500
Franchitti Finishes Seventh at Indianapolis 500 In Klein Tools/Canadian Club Car SPEEDWAY, Ind. (May 28, 2006) - Dario Franchitti, driver of the #27 Klein Tools/Canadian Club car, drove to a seventh-place finish at Sunday's running of the 90th Indianapolis 500. The finish improved Franchitti two spots in the IndyCar Series championship, moving him into a tie for seventh place. Starting from the 17th position, Franchitti swiftly moved the Klein Tools/Canadian Club car through traffic, gaining four spots on the opening lap of the race. Less than 100 miles into the event, Franchitti had climbed into the eighth position. As he gained positions on the track, he was aided by a crew that was earning him spots during the pit stops and he was running in sixth position at the half-way point. Franchitti was as high as second place before a final splash-and-go stop was necessary to finish the remaining seven laps. Sam Hornish Jr. won his first Indianapolis 500 in the second-closest finish in the race's history. He edged out rookie Marco Andretti at the line. Following Marco across the yard of bricks was his father, Michael, who made his first '500' start since 2003. Dan Wheldon and Tony Kanaan rounded out the top five. The IndyCar Series season resumes Sunday, June 4, at Watkins Glen International. ABC Sports will provide live coverage of the Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix beginning at 3:30 p.m. (EDT). Dario Franchitti, #27 Klein Tools/Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "My day went a lot better than the rest of the month. We started to make progress straight off the start, we started getting to the front and every time I came into the pits, the Klein Tools/Canadian Club crew got me out a couple of places up. The car wasn't the fastest car on the track but we were very good in traffic and that's where we were trying to make up our time. That last yellow kind of hurt us. I think Dan (Wheldon) slowed up on the restart and I hit him and then somebody hit me in the side so it was pretty physical on that last restart. I thought Marco and Michael were going to finish '1-2' and that would have been pretty cool." John Anderson, Team Manager, #27 Klein Tools/Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "We knew at the third-to-last pit stop that we still needed two stops. We didn't have the speed today that we needed to get up there and stay there. During that last stop we just got enough fuel in there. It was very close. We needed four gallons and were just holding our breath. The Klein Tools/Canadian Club crew did an awesome job. The pit stops were magical. It was a very good day for Andretti Green Racing." 2006 Indianapolis 500 Results Pos. Name Laps Pos. Name Laps Pos. Name Laps 1 Sam Hornish Jr. 200 12 Buddy Lazier 199 23 Jeff Simmons 152 2 Marco Andretti 200 13 Eddie Cheever Jr. 198 24 Al Unser Jr. 145 3 Michael Andretti 200 14 Max Papis 197 25 Helio Castroneves 109 4 Dan Wheldon 200 15 Kosuke Matsuura 196 26 Buddy Rice 108 5 Tony Kanaan 200 16 Roger Yasukawa 194 27 Tomas Scheckter 65 6 Scott Dixon 200 17 Jaques Lazier 193 28 Arie Luyendyk Jr. 54 7 Dario Franchitti 200 18 Airton Dare 193 29 Stephan Gregoire 49 8 Danica Patrick 200 19 PJ Jones 189 30 Larry Foyt 43 9 Scott Sharp 200 20 Bryan Herta 188 31 Thiago Medeiros 24 10 Vitor Meira 200 21 Felipe Giaffone 177 32 Jeff Bucknum 1 11 Ed Carpenter 199 22 Townsend Bell 161 33 PJ Chesson 1