NAZARETH, Pa. - Dan Wheldon took advantage of a fiery mishap during a pit stop by leader Sam Hornish Jr. for victory Sunday in the last race at Nazareth Speedway.
Wheldon's third career victory and third of the season came in the Firestone Indy 225 - the IRL's 100th race. It was an emotional victory for car owner Michael Andretti, who was a lifelong resident of this Lehigh Valley village and who won the first race at the track in 1987.
Wheldon beat teammate Tony Kanaan, the IRL points leader, by 3.5553 seconds. The victory moved Wheldon within 72 points of Kanaan with three of 16 races remaining.
Dario Franchitti, a winner a week earlier at Pikes Peak International Raceway, made it a top-three sweep for Andretti Green Racing - the first in IRL history.
"This is the biggest win in my career as a team owner for sure," Andretti said. "And to do it in style, 1-2-3. That's awesome."
Hornish was in control when he pitted under caution on the 146th of 225 laps. But Hornish left before refueler Chris Seaman disengaged the hose.
The hose split and fuel spewed out as Seaman fell to the ground. As he lay there flailing his arms to indicate fire from invisible methanol fuel, team owner Roger Penske was the first to douse him with a bucket of water.
Seaman escaped injury because of his fire suit. Penske, wearing just slacks and a short-sleeve shirt, did not come in contact with the flames. Hornish had to come back in one lap later because the left side of his car was afire.
Wheldon, Kanaan and Buddy Rice share the lead with three victories apiece. Rice, who finished fourth, fell to third in the standings, 76 points behind Kanaan.
CHAMP CARS: Bruno Junqueira is back in the title chase. The Brazilian driver, all but out of the championship picture in a season dominated by Newman/Haas Racing teammate Sebastien Bourdais of Tampa, won the Montreal Molson Indy by staying out of trouble on a chaotic day.
"This is going to give me and my team a lot of confidence going into the last four races of the season," Junqueira said. "We're going to work hard and try to catch Sebastien for the championship. I think I can."
The victory by the two-time Champ Car World Series runnerup, combined with Bourdais' 15th-place finish, put some life back into a championship battle that appeared all but over when Bourdais won his sixth pole of the year and went into Sunday's race holding a 58-point lead over Junqueira.
With the sixth victory of his career and first since last August in Denver, Junqueira sliced that margin to 34 points with four races remaining.
Bourdais dominated the early part of the 69-lap race on the 2.709-mile Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The Frenchman lost the lead for the first time when he made his first pit stop on Lap 21, but regained the top spot on Lap 36, when Mario Dominguez pitted. He built a lead close to 10 seconds over Junqueira before stopping a second time on Lap 41.
Bourdais, on cold tires, came out of the pits just ahead of the leader, rookie A.J. Allmendinger, and sped up to try to fend off the youngster as they drove into a sharp right-hand turn. The cars banged together, breaking Bourdais' right front suspension and ending his race.
Allmendinger was immediately assessed a stop-and-go penalty by Champ Car officials for avoidable contact.
Both drivers were furious, pointing fingers at the other.
After climbing from his car, slamming his fist on the front tire, then throwing down his driving gloves, Bourdais said: "He just ran into me. I don't know what happened."
FORMULA ONE: Michael Schumacher even sets records by finishing second. He was runnerup to Kimi Raikkonen in the Belgian Grand Prix, only the second time in 14 races this season Schumacher did not win. But the German scored enough points to clinch an unprecedented seventh Formula One drivers' title.
