Briscoe Holds Off Carpenter To Take Kenucky Thriller

SPARTA, Aug. 2, 2009: Ryan Briscoe was a heartbreaker for Vision Racing again. The Team Penske driver held off a hard-charging Ed Carpenter to win the Meijer Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway.

It was the second victory of the season for Briscoe, who beat Vision's Ryan Hunter-Reay in his other win this season at St. Pete. It also gave him the points lead by eight over Scott Dixon, who finished seventh, and by 11 over Dario Franchitti (sixth place) heading to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, where Briscoe won last year.

Carpenter, who started 14th in the No. 20 Menard's entry, posted his best finish in seven IndyCar Series seasons and the best on an oval in the five-year history of Vision Racing.

Through the final service stops, Carpenter led Briscoe by 0.3657 of a second on Lap 180. That gap narrowed to 0.0880 of a second on Lap 185, and Briscoe reclaimed the point on Lap 192 (leading by 0.0117 of a second at the line). The cars' sidepods appeared to be glued together on the closing laps - 0.0018 on Lap 193, 0.0080 on Lap 195, 0.0123 on Lap 199.

The final margin of victory was .0162 of a second, the 11th-closest finish in series history. Briscoe's average speed of 200.893 mph was the second-fastest race in series history.