IndyCar: Franchitti's night ends early at Iowa Speedway

NEWTON - Dario Franchitti's attempt at a third title at Iowa Speedway ended before it even began.

Franchitti, who earned his second straight pole position, suffered engine trouble before the green flag dropped and was out of the IZOD IndyCar Indy 250 Saturday night.

The race was originally scheduled to run under the lights, beginning at 9 p.m. Early evening rain altered the schedule, delaying the race for approximately 30 minutes and postponing the Firestone Indy Lights Sukup 100 until after the IZOD IndyCar Series race.

On a warm-up lap after the initial start was waved off, Franchitti's car started to smoke and forced him to pull off. Franchitti was towed off the track. It was the first time the defending IndyCar points champion did not finish two consecutive races since the final race of 2004 and the first in 2005.

The Target Chip Ganassi Racing car blew the engine that won Franchitti a third Indianapolis 500 championship in May.

"It was making a very strange noise," said Franchitti, who won the pole last week at Milwaukee IndyFest only to finish 19th due to contact. "I actually just got on the radio to say is this making an odd noise and just at that it let go. It's really disappointing."

The incident forced the first nine laps to run under yellow and elevated Helio Castroneves into the pole position. Castroneves led the first 51 laps before James Hinchcliffe made a move to the inside to take the lead. Hinchcliffe wrecked later on in the race.

Castroneves benefitted from the race's second caution on lap 69 when his Team Penske teammate Will Power, the IZOD IndyCar Series points leader, and E.J. Viso made contact. Castroneves beat Hinchcliffe off pit road to regain the lead.

Castroneves, who has never won at Iowa Speedway, remained in the lead after 82 laps.