Adrian Fernandez won his second event of the season at Chiagoland Speedway in the Delphi 300. It was a bittersweet victory for Fernandez, who suffered a broken air jack on his car during his second pit stop and had to resort to using standard jacks which elongated his time in the pits considerably. He was able to conserve fuel during the many cautions, and found himself on the lead on lap 183, holding on for the victory with his usual masterful driving ability.
Following Fernandez across the finish line in the top ten were Bryan Herta, Tony Kanaan, Dan Wheldon, Vitor Meira, Sam Hornish Jr., Scott Dixon, Felipe Giaffone, Scott Sharp, and Helio Castroneves. The top ten starters and how they finished:
- Helio Castroneves -- #3 Toyota -- finished 10th
- Tony Kanaan -- #11 Honda -- finished 3rd
- Buddy Rice -- #15 Honda -- finished 14th
- Dario Franchitti -- #27 Honda -- finished 20th
- Dan Wheldon -- #26 Honda -- finished 4th
- A. J. Foyt Jr. -- #14 Toyota -- finished 16th
- Sam Hornish Jr. -- #6 Toyota -- finished 6th
- Vitor Meira -- #17 Honda -- finished 5th
- Bryan Herta -- #7 Honda -- finished 2nd
- Adrian Fernandez -- #5 Honda -- finished 1st
Tony Kanaan had a chance to take the championship at Chicagoland, but he didn't get it done. All he has to do in the next event is to finish fourth to clinch the title. With 538 points, he now leads second place driver Dan Wheldon by 75. Buddy Rice is still in third, but his accident took him out of serious contention. He's now listed with 443, which is a deficit of 95 points. With fifty points awarded to the winner of an event, it pretty much puts him out of the running. Helio Castroneves is in fourth listed with 376 points, followed by Dario Franchitti listed with 366 points.
The big news in the IRL world after the Chicago event was the horrendous wreck suffered by Buddy Rice when his car went airborne and slid several hundred feet bottom side up. The driver's radio antenna was broken off when the car landed on its top, so the crew couldn't communicate wt the driver to see if he was injured. The top of the line IRL safety crew carefully eased the car back on its right side, and Rice made his exit, unscathed. The only thing that was hurt, other than the car, were his chances of winning the championship.
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