During most of Sunday's 91st Indianapolis 500 it looked as though the winning driver would be part of the five-car Andretti Green Racing team.
Though Dario Franchitti, the eventual winner of the rain-shortened event, is an Andretti Green member, the dominant car throughout the day was the green-and-white No. 11 of Tony Kanaan. Kanaan was in line for the victory when rain stopped the race at lap 113, but after the restart his right-rear tire went flata couple laps before the pre-mature checkered flag.
Kanaan, who is Franchitti's best friend and a fellow Andretti Green driver, was unavailable after the race because he was preparing to celebrate with his friend. After walking out of Franchitti's victory press conference, part-owner Kim Green said it was a frustrating day for Kanaan.
"Tony certainly had the fastest car today," Green said. "It seems to me that every race we win we have one happy driver and in this case four somewhat unhappy drivers. Tony gave it his best shot today but it just didn't happen for him."
Kanaan was not the only Andretti Green driver who would've benefited if the rain had continued, ending the race at lap 113. Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick were in second and third respectively before the restart. It would have been the first time cars from the same team finished in the top three spots at the Indy 500. With Franchitti in fifth position, it would've also been the first time a team put four cars in the top five.
Though Michael Andretti's No. 39 car was in 18th position, the part-owner of Andretti Green Racing said he wouldn't have minded the race being called after 113 laps.
"It was mixed emotions for me because I knew that with my car, if everything was perfect, we'd only have to do two more [pit] stops and everybody else had to do three," Andretti said after failing to win the Indy 500 as a driver for the 17th time. "But I knew we were sitting at one, two, three, five at that point and that would've been nice as well."
Instead, after racing for another 53 laps, Franchitti ended up being the only Andretti Green Racing car to finish in the top five. Patrick had the team's second-best finish in eighth place. In his last race at Indy, Michael Andretti rounded out the top 10.
Kanaan fell to 12th, after leading more laps than any other driver. After restarting in second position, Marco Andretti's day finished in a wreck when he touched wheels with Target Chip Ganasi driver Dan Wheldon on the back stretch and flipped upside down before coming to a stop right before entering Turn 3. Marco finished in 24th place.
Though Franchitti was thrilled about winning his first Indy 500, he said he could understand the frustration of the rest of his team.
"When the red flag stopped the race we were really happy with our car," Franchitti said. "It was such a bittersweet moment for me because I was looking at Tony leading the race and looking like he was going to win it. But I was thinking to myself, 'Well, I think my car's good enough to win this race.' And with two of my teammates in second and third, it looked like a good deal for us."
Though Andretti Green's finish after the race was called early at 166 laps was not as impressive as it would've been after lap 113, Michael Andretti said the most important thing was his team had the winning car.
"It's all about winning," he said. "We had five cars out there and we just wanted one of them to be in the right position and that's what happened. We're all about the win."
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