SONOMA, Calif. — Ryan Briscoe settled for second place Sunday at Infineon Raceway and was pretty happy about it.
Briscoe followed Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves across the finish line, knowing the victory — his first in 30 races — helped the Brazilian stay in a championship duel with IndyCar Series leader Scott Dixon with two races remaining.
Castroneves had finished second seven times this season, including getting beaten by Briscoe last month on the road course at Mid-Ohio.
“I’m so happy for Helio,” the Aussie said. “Not getting a win all year and getting all of those seconds was killing him, so I’m really happy for him to win the race. He was the quickest car out there today. It’s just great for the team.”
It was a very strong finish to a week that began with the news that one of the Penske team’s transporters had caught fire, destroying the primary cars of both Castroneves and Briscoe.
“It’s unbelievable,” Briscoe said. “To start the week off the way we did, with the fire and everything, and then dominate with a one-two qualifying and race result, it’s definitely the strongest we’ve been all year.”
Team owner Roger Penske said he was very proud of the way the team responded to the loss of the transporter with the two cars, uniforms and other important equipment on it. He said his NASCAR and American Le Mans Series teams, working out of the same race shop as the IndyCar team in Mooresville, N.C., responded to the emergency.
“The fraternity pulled together with us and helped us get back together,” Penske said. “All these guys, they are racers, a great group of guys. It’s all about people and Helio and Briscoe really did a great job today. We have tough competition out there.”
He said he was particularly proud of the way Castroneves responded.
“Helio wanted to get that win and, wow, what a way to do it under the adversity we had this week.”
NOT SO EXCITING: With most of the drivers in Sunday’s race following their own fuel-saving strategies, Tony Kanaan didn’t find the action particularly scintillating.
Asked how the race played out for him, third-place finisher Tony Kanaan said, “Lonely, very lonely.”
Kanaan said saving fuel is boring.
“I mean, I think racing is about going fast, not driving slow,” the Andretti Green Racing driver said. “Obviously, you do whatever you can, whatever you need to do the finish on the podium. But it’s like people on the radio saying you’ve got to do a certain amount of fuel number and drive slow, but be fast, don’t get passed, things that don’t make any sense.”
ROOKIE RACER: Venezuelan rookie E.J. Viso finished sixth, his best effort since a season-best fourth-place on the street circuit at St. Petersburg in the second race of the season. Using a fuel-saving strategy, Viso led twice for nine laps.
“I think we did a great job today,” said Viso, who drives for the one-car HVM Racing team. “The car was very competitive and (engineer) Michael (Cannon) gave us great strategy today to lead the race and be up front.
“The team, I have to give them a ton of credit also. The pit stops were fast and helped us maintain our position. We have some room to improve and run against the bigger teams, but today proved that we can compete with them.”
Viso was the top finisher among the nine drivers in Sunday’s race making the transition from Champ Car to the unified IndyCar Series.
CELEBRITY VISIT: Among the people visiting Marco Andretti on Sunday was filmmaker George Lucas, creator of the “Star Wars” saga and the Indiana Jones movies.
Andretti’s No. 26 car has been a rolling billboard for several of Lucas’ movies and carried graphics for “Stars Wars: The Clone Wars” on Sunday.
“It gets a lot of notoriety for the team,” said Lucas, a longtime IndyCar fan who makes his home in Modesto, Calif. “Especially with the Star Wars and brand and Indiana Jones, we already have more notoriety than we need. If we’re going to give it to something, we might as well give it to racing. I’ve lived through the Andretti legends and now Marco is carrying that one.”
Andretti, the grandson of Mario Andretti and son of Michael Andretti, finished a disappointing 14th Sunday.
SPARK PLUGS: Fan favorite Danica Patrick finished fifth, among her best performances of the season. … Winner Helio Castroneves led four times for 51 laps and averaged 100.254 mph in the race slowed by just one caution flag for two laps. … Rookie Enrique Bernoldi, who tore the ligament in his left thumb in a crash on Saturday, finished 21st in the 27-car field.
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