Franchitti Gets First Win

Dario Franchitti is now one of the boys! He has cemented his place on the infamous Andretti Green team with a race win on the storied Milwaukee Mile, and he did it in the inaugural event for the Indy Racing League at that facility. The top ten starters at Milwaukee and how they finished:

1. Vitor Meira -- #17 Honda - finished 5th
2. Tony Kanaan -- #11 Honda - finished 4th
3. Buddy Rice -- #15 Honda - finished 2nd
4. Sam Hornish Jr. -- #6 Toyota -- finished 3rd
5. Helio Castroneves -- # Toyota -- finished 12th
6. Adrian Fernandez -- #5 Honda - finished 8th
7. Dario Franchitti -- #27 Honda - finished 1st
8. Tomas Scheckter -- #4 Chevy - finished 21st
9. Jaques Lazier -- #20 Chevy - finished 17th
10. Darren Manning -- #10 Toyota - finished 19th

Franchitti, a native of Scotland and husband of actress Ashley Judd, was sidelined the majority of last season in a body cast as the result of a motorcycle crash. The win at Milwaukee was sweet vindication for him.

The Andretti Green team, owned by former racing star Michael Andretti, seems to be coming into its own this season, with two of its four drivers in the top five in driver's points, and the other two in the top ten. With the strong emergence of Honda this season as the top engine manufacturer in the IRL, and Tony Kanaan sitting atop the driver's point' standings, things couldn't be looking better for the Andretti team. Unless of course, an Indy 500 win could have been added, but as we all know, that just wasn't the case this year. As a side note, Honda leads the engine manufacturer's points with 87, followed by Toyota with 64. Chevy is sorrowfully bringing up the rear with a paltry 47 points.

Regardless of not scoring a win at Indy, Andretti Green is the team to beat this season. Kanaan has 357 driver's points, three wins, eight top five, and nine top ten finishes in nine races. Team member Dan Wheldon is third in driver's points with 276, along with two wins, five top five, and six top ten finishes in nine races. Dario Franchitti is sixth in driver's points with 226, one win, three top five, and four top ten finishes in nine races. Bryan Herta, the fourth member of the team, is ninth in driver's points with 199, with three top five, and five top ten finishes in the nine events so far this season.

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