By Patrick Reynolds
Indianapolis, IN- Brazilian Tony Kanaan scored a long-awaited and popular victory in the 97th Indianapolis 500.
Crowd favorite Kanaan took the lead from Ryan Hunter-Reay on the front stretch as the green flag waved for a restart with three laps to go. The leaders were working through the second corner when three-time 500 winner Dario Franchitti crashed in turn one resulting in the caution flag waving and sealing the win for Kanaan.
Rookie Carlos Munoz, who was part of the thrilling Friday four-wide Freedom 100 finish, also snuck by Hunter-Reay for second. Hunter-Reay was third with pre-race favorite Marco Andretti fourth and Justin Wilson fifth. Helio Castroneves, A.J. Allmendinger, Simon Pagenaud, Charlie Kimball, and pole sitter Ed Carpenter, who also led a race-high 37 laps, rounded out the top-ten.
The win was extremely admired in the grandstands and the garage area. The crowd of over 250,000 stood and cheered in the late stages as Kanaan took the lead.
“Well you know, first I think we can prove that theory that says that nice guy don’t win,” Kanaan said. “I guess we proved them wrong.” Read On!
