Tony Kanaan wins Iowa 250

Tony Kanaan flipped the script on Father's Day.

On a day when sons pay tribute to fathers and give them various presents for their efforts, Kanaan gave his son, Leonardo, a special treat. He made a trip to victory, something that the 2-year-old had yet to witness.

“”A win on Father's Day, my son hadn't seen me win a race yet,” Kanaan said. “He wasn't here but I'm pretty sure he was watching on TV back in Brazil. … I'm happy and obviously it feels good to be in victory circle for sure.”

Kanaan raced to victory in the IZOD IndyCar Series Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway on Sunday, passing fellow Brazilian Helio Castroneves with 10 laps remaining to claim his first win since 2008. E.J. Viso rounded out the podium, placing an IndyCar Series career best third.

“It was a great job as a team,” Kanaan said,” and it feels good.”

The victory reversed three years of frustration in the Iowa Corn 250 race. Kanaan failed to finish in the previous three races. He even commented that the first race in 2007 he was able to fly home and watch Dario Franchitti win.

The fact was brought up repeatedly during the weekend. Racers have a history with every track, according to Kanaan. He doesn't let the past influence him.

“Those are just things that we can go look at the facts and we can change that,” Kanaan said. ”Like I said, I never finish, and when I finish, I finish first, so now we have a different story.”

It didn't seem like that would be the ending after qualifying 15th, which put the 14-time IndyCar race winner in a bad mood the evening before the race. Kanaan maneuvered through the field, however, grabbing his first lead about halfway through the race.

The itself was filled with exciting races as racers passed one another regularly on a track that typically was tough to pass. It was even more interesting at the front of the field, which saw a record 16 lead changes, breaking the old record of 13 set in 2007.

“The race was very competitive. The cars were very close,” Kanaan said. “On a track like this a lot of people can run different types of down force in the race. That's wanted I think it counted to so many lead passes.”

Kanaan jockeyed with the leaders for the seocnd half of the race, challenging for the lead with long-time friends and rivals Franchitti and Castroneves.

“The battle with Dario was awesome, I was smiling the whole time. We were having fun – at that point I'm sure he was laughing too,” Kanaan said. “We were just like enjoying the moment, and I hope the fans enjoyed it, and with Helio, too.”

It was his final pass that was the most impressive. With about 10 laps remaining, Kanaan blew by Castroneves and didn't look back, capturing the lead for good en route to a 4.2-second victory.

“It wasn't him going faster,” Castroneves said. “It was me slowing down.”

The push-to-pass competition played a big part in the race's action. The option allows driver to push a button that allows them to get a boost of power 24 times lasting 10 seconds each push. It affected the racer's strategy, using it judiciously. Especially on the short 7/8-mile oval that took about 19 seconds to circle.

“Definitely it's a tool that we have and we can attack or defend ourselves,” Viso said about using it for passes, “and definitely we use those buttons, those pushes, and we all want to keep them for the end so basically at the end we're all hitting the green button, so that's what we did.”

Team Penske made a lot of adjustments, according to Castroneves. The former “Dancing With the Stars Champion” and three-time Indianapolis 500 champion still had to battle steering problems, but he adjusted. The cause may have been when Castroneves made contact with Scott Dixon after swerving to avoid Kanaan while exiting pit road during one fo the four cautions.

“When you have tight pits like that and everybody trying to get out of the way it certainly creates potential situations like that,” Castroneves said. “In my case, I was just leaving the pits. I didn't even see Tony.”

Castroneves, whose best finish in the Iowa Corn 250 before Sunday was seventh,  was left saying he wished the race was 10 laps shorter. He led twice for a total of 43 laps, but couldn't seal the deal.

“I should be happy but with 10 laps to go, it slipped right through my hands,” Castroneves said. “We had great pit stops. The team did an incredible job. Tony did seem to have a better car. he could run everywhere, but more consistent. It's a shame for us today, but for the championship it is very good.”

Team Penske teammate Will Power reclaimed the series lead, placing fifth after starting on the pole. The third Team Penske car driven by Ryan Briscoe came in fourth, allowing Briscoe to join a group of five others with the most top-five finishes in the race's short history.

Franchitti entered the was trying to go 3-for-3 in Iowa Corn 250 races, winning in 2007 and 2009 and missing the 2008 race while focusing on NASCAR schedule. His attempt was foiled by an uncooperative gearbox while he was out in front of the field.

Franchitti led 69 laps of the race, and led approaching Lap 200 when he dropped drastically. Castroneves and Kanaan zipped past Franchitti, setting the stage for their battle the last 50 laps. Franchitti, however, found himself in the pits and finishing only about 13 more laps.

“I was shifting from sixth down to fifth (gear) and came up with a box full of neutrals,” said Franchitti, whose 18th-place finish dropped him to third behind Power and Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon, who started in the front row with Power and finished sixth. “We had a winning car today, but it wasn't anybody's fault.

“These things just happen.”

The KV Racing Technology team can understand with the bad luck it's had this season. Viso was the lone bright spot for the team at the Iowa Speedway. His teammates, Mario Moraes and Takuma Sato, crashed and did not finish. Sato had made a huge move, running with the leaders when he slid up into the wall with less than 75 laps remaining.

Viso couldn't dwell on the team's unfortunate happenings this season, especially Sunday.

“It cannot affect me,” Viso said. “We're all race car drivers. That is one of the characteristics we need to have is be strong-minded.”

It actually forced him to be more focused and careful as he pushed toward his podium finish. Viso wanted to come through for KV Racing.

“I just wanted to bring something to the team and the sponsor because we definitely had a pretty good car this weekend,” Viso said. “That was the only way to do it.”

Kanaan hadn't won since winning at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway about two years ago. The 2004 IndyCar Series champion ended his drought and Sunday was a step into vaulted him back into the Series top tier of drivers competing for a series championship.

“We got to keep doing it,” Kanaan said. “It's a long way to go but when I said all along this year that we were better than last year, a lot of people twisted their noses and didn't believe it, but we are. We got to keep working on it and we have now a few road and street courses coming up, which we were really strong in, and we're there.”

[nggallery id=253]