Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon on accomplishments at Kentucky Indy 300

Dario Franchitti raced an amazing race at the Kentucky Indy 300. Yet with his perfect racing, he still came in second with a neck and neck battle with Ed Carpenter. As one journalist pointed out his last 25 laps were precise, but not perfect enough.

"With the speed I had in the car I didn't think I made any mistakes. But it comes down to the fact that Ed's car was quicker and Ed didn't make any mistakes either," said Franchitti, "This is what this sport is all about. That's what IndyCar is all about."

For the last laps of the race Franchitti owned the track, hugging the inside of the track, keeping the rest of the pack behind him. That worked well until Ed Carpenter came and Dario had to use overtakes just to keep him alongside, prevent him from passing.

"Smallest things make the difference on these tracks," said Franchitti about working his cars controls as best as possible. For the last laps of the race "I needed to use [the overtakes] just to keep [Ed Carpenter] alongside me."

Franchitti began a commanding lead after Will Power lost his lead and his car lost its momentum due to problems in the pits. When Franchitti found out what happened to Will Power he said, "It changed my mood in the car, but it didn't change how I raced."

Franchitti came in second and and Scott Dixon in third. Dixon is now out of contention of winning the championship. Franchitti is leading the championship by 18 points. This win is his best result ever at the Kentucky Speedway. Both racers are looking forward to the last race in Las Vegas where there will be more than 30 cars on the track.

On pit row and pit exit at Kentucky Speedway

One of the most hotly discussed issues at Kentucky Speedway was pit row, specifically the pit out which was extremely narrow only allowing one IndyCar through at a time. Many drivers argued that the track was being designed for the less wide NASCAR cars.

Franchitti explained the issues with the pits, "If somebody runs out of fuel or spins it blocks it completely. So what do you do? Do you sit there and wait for the yellow to come out or go up on the track at 100 MPH when someone is passing you at 210 MPH. It can create a very dangerous roadblock. That's the problem."

In practice earlier in the week they made some complaints regarding the pavement and the speedway did do some repaving for which Franchitti was grateful.

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