Road Runner Turbo 300 via "Beep Beep" - errr, Tweet

All hail in Kansas City as a storm greets the IndyCar teams at Kansas Speedway. Image Credit indycarnation

Road Runner Turbo 300 via "Beep Beep" - errr, Tweet

Qualifying was delayed yesterday due to rain and hail.

Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti have been put to the back of the grid for today's Kansas IndyCar race after they were judged to have illegally crossed the white line at the bottom of the track during their qualifying runs.

Wheldon's third place had been his best qualifying result since rejoining Panther last year, but he remains optimistic that he can still have a strong race from the tail of the field.

Dario Franchitti's Target Chip Ganassi car #10 getting prepared to take the track for today's race. Image Credit indycarnation

Andretti had qualified 11th before the officials' ruling.

The demotions mean Dario Franchitti and Hideki Mutoh move up to third and fourth places, with Fazzt's Alex Tagliani and Foyt's Vitor Meira are sharing row three - great starts for them both.

Getting ready for a quick ride aroung the track in Kansas in a 2-Seater. Image Credit indycarnation

Pos Driver Team Speed
1. Ryan Briscoe Penske 212.15mph
2. Scott Dixon Ganassi 211.22mph
3. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 211.19mph
4. Hideki Mutoh Newman/Haas/Lanigan 211.11mph
5. Alex Tagliani Fazzt 210.86mph
6. Vitor Meira Foyt 210.66mph
7. Will Power Penske 210.62mph
8. Helio Castroneves Penske 210.49mph
9. Danica Patrick Andretti 210.41mph
10. Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold 210.38mph
11. Takuma Sato KV 210.35mph
12. Mario Moraes KV 210.17mph
13. Raphael Matos Luczo Dragon/de Ferran 209.91mph
14. Sarah Fisher Sarah Fisher 209.89mph
15. Tony Kanaan Andretti 209.72mph
16. EJ Viso KV 209.73mph
17. John Andretti Andretti 209.73mph
18. Simona de Silvestro HVM 209.43mph
19. Bertrand Baguette Conquest 209.32mph
20. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold 209.18mph
21. Jay Howard Sarah Fisher 208.77mph
22. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti 208.41mph
23. Alex Lloyd Dale Coyne 208.30mph
24. Milka Duno Dale Coyne 207.88mph
25. Dan Wheldon Panther 211.22mph
26. Marco Andretti Andretti 210.40mph
27. Mario Romancini Conquest

Starting Grid just before the command was given to clear the grid and the announcement of "Drivers, Start You Engines" at the Road Runner Turbo 300 at Kansas Speedway. Image Credit: KV Racing Technology

The command was given for the drivers to START YOUR ENGINES - Row by row call out as HOT!

sidepodcast firing up indycar race control - http://bit.ly/9oshb1 - fab quality video

MyNameIsIRL Wheldon is out "in-car commentator". Dan starts talking about the car and...he stalls it. Note: "in-car commentator" is rarely a good idea.

GREEN GREEN GREEN!

IndyCarNation Lap 1: GREEN. The Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 is underway

At the start of the Road Runner Turbo 300, the grandstands seem a bit empty. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2010)

Fresh tires and three wide they enter into the first few turns on an overcast day in Kansas.

LAP 5 - Briscoe, Franchitti and Dixon are still the top 3

pressdog Monitoring @simdesilvestro @sarahfisher @danicapatrick.

IndyCarPR Lap 10: #6 Briscoe leads #9 Dixon by .1755 of a second. #11 Kanaan is sixth after starting 15th. #37 Hunter-Reay is 10th after starting 22nd

luczodragon In battle with conway and marco

FastMachines Listening to the guys on IMS radio's coverage. So much better than ABC. They actually sound interested. #indycar http://is.gd/bQ7Lf

FuriousWedge Marco now 11th! Making Sam Hornish & Tomas Scheckter proud with all these outside line passes

TheEDJE Top 5 lead pack by 4.3 seconds

kvracing After 20 laps, Moraes (#32) is 8th, Viso (#8) 9th & Sato (#5) 12th

TheSpeedgeek milka is threatening to pass justin. it's been a good life everybody! apocalypse comes tomorrow!

indy44 vitor running with the big boys nice

toomuchracing What's up with Justin? RT @TheSpeedgeek: milka is threatening to pass justin. it's been a good life everybody! apocalypse comes tomorrow!

TheEDJE Live Beep Beep ... I mean TWEET blog at The EDJE - http://tinyurl.com/245bb6p

IndyCarPR Lap 33: #9 Dixon bids for the lead on Frontstretch and completes the pass of #6 Briscoe in Turn 2.

luczodragon Pitting on 45 to change, working to stay on lead lap so we get changes to take

IndyCarPR Lap 36: #9 Dixon leads #6 Briscoe by 1.0971 seconds

TheEDJE Weldon goes a lap down as Dixon goes by

Briscoe in for his pitstop on Lap 49 - Dixon still logging laps

racingleager Andretti racing Kansas with an eye on Indy 500: John Andretti teamed with two giants of racing a year ago, driving... http://bit.ly/doQrWG

kvracing Sato in to pit, next lap Moraes, then Viso. All tires and fuel - Viso 7th, Moraes 9th &
Sato 11th.

Alex Tagliani runs clean during the Road Runner Turbo 300, the first oval race of the season. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2010)

autoracingnews After the first round of pit stops, Dixon leads at Kansas Speedway. Championship leader Power falls behind after a lengthy pit stop.

luczodragon Now let's see what we've got. Nice clean stop

TheEDJE Lap 60 - Only 14 cars on the lead lap

kvracing After 60 laps. Moraes (#32 car) is 9th, Sato (#5) is 11th & Viso (#8) is 16th. Dixon P1, Franchitti, Briscoe

luczodragon If this was an election Dixon by a landslide but a long way to go

MyNameIsIRL Penalty of some sort for Viso on the pit stop. Now he's back to 18th. Dammit.

toomuchracing Sato 11th in his first oval race, very impressive

luczodragon Rafa said the car is better but still slow

pressdog @sarahfisher67 is driving a pig. @simdesilvestro is putting up goot lap times. Spotters on fire for her.

autoracingnews Dixon on fire; has put Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti a lap down. 11 cars left on lead lap. Caution is out.

kvracing Lap 72 Yellow Flag for Viso. Moraes is 8th, Sato 11th.

MyNameIsIRL Scott Dixon is the opposite of racing excitement. There, I said it.

TheEDJE @MyNameIsIRL on Dixon - Can you say P-R-E-D-I-C-T-A-B-L-E? ... I knew you could

edcarpenter20 @danwheldon says he is light on downforce...

luczodragon More action under this yellow than any of us sees in the kc night life tonight

kvracing Sato back in pits for new tires after being pushed into grass coming out of pit lane in last stop. Moraes is 10th.

IndyCarNation Lap 76: Leaders on pit road for four tires and fuel. Lap cars of #26 M. Andretti, #66 Howard, #2 Matos, #12 Power and #24 Conway do not pit.

DRRIndyCar Mike is getting a wave around and will be back on the lead lap. Being asked to conserve fuel.

Restart - GREEN GREEN GREEN on Lap 83

FuriousWedge The Foyt crew needs to get their act together cause Vitor is hooked up on track passed 3 cars since green flag he lost in the pits

TheEDJE Back to 16 cars on the lead lap

DRRIndyCar Reached the halfway point. P15 with Mike and P21 with Justin.

ConquestRacing We are at the halfway point of the race. Romancini is 22nd; Baguette is 24th http://bit.ly/bpiipN

TheEDJE ICS points leader Will Power running along at 13

FuriousWedge If I'm starting a team, I'm bringing in John Andretti as my veteran, he's money today and was money in Roth Racing cars 2 years ago

IndyCarPR top 10 at lap 103: 9 Dixon, 10 Franchitti, 3 Castroneves, 11 Kanaan, 77 Tagliani, 37 Ryan Hunter-Reay, 14 Meria, 06 Mutoh, 43 John Andretti, 6 Briscoe

MyNameIsIRL And here's Danica making a pit stop. Really ESPN, this is embarrassing.

TheEDJE @MyNameIsIRL Too much Danica coverage especially after she held up Helio

tomasscheckter if i was helio right now i would be pisssssssed

edcarpenter20 7 car...been thereRT @tomasscheckter if i was helio right now i would be pisssssssed

Yellow Flag for debris - Lap 121

MyNameIsIRL Hideki Mutoh is now 4th. Mutoh Mania rises to a near fever pitch!

TheSpeedgeek @FuriousWedge vitors lost 4-5 spots every stop today. never fails.

Restart - GREEN GREEN GREEN - Lap 129

TheEDJE Only 12 cars on the lead lap - Top five on Push-To-Pass

FuriousWedge Back to green and Vitor goes back to work getting spots lost in the pits back, back up to 9th

TheEDJE John Andretti is all out of Push-To-Pass whereas Dixon has used only 2 of 20 allowed

MyNameIsIRL The Ganassi cars have already pulled away by almost a second from Kanaan. Try to act shocked.

IndyCarPR Lap 140: #9 Dixon leads #10 Franchitti by .3053 of a second.

IndyCarNation Lap 145: #9 Dixon leads #10 Franchitti by .5415 of a second.

TheEDJE Sato isn't passing but he is pushing P-T-P and only has 8 left as he tries Helio

Those Lotus colors on the livery look really good

TheSpeedgeek who knew taku'd be better at the ovals than the roads? anybody?

MyNameIsIRL Takuma Sato, reported "road course specialist" is up to 6th. Mutoh in 4th. Japan is well represented this week.

TheEDJE @TheSpeedgeek Never saw Sato coming as an oval specialist - 6th? WOW

TheEDJE @MyNameIsIRL What are they puttin' in the Sushi in Kansas? Steak?

IndyCarPR Lap 160: #9 Dixon leads #10 Franchitti by 1.8959 seconds. #2 Matos and #26 Andretti on pit road four tires and fuel.

luczodragon The rout continues, Dixon running away. If it were a fight they would've stopped it

PlanetIRLdotcom For those of you without a feed. http://www.justin.tv/freddy49usa#r=kQ60fUQ

Last Round Of Pitstops

IndyCarPR Lap 161: #6 Briscoe pits for four tires and fuel.

FuriousWedge Side note, this result will likely bring everyone even with Will Power in points

garytrib Marco Coming out for last pit stop http://tweetphoto.com/20683301

IndyCarNation Lap 166: #9 Dixon leads #10 Franchitti by 2.1169 seconds. #32 Moraes on pit road for four tires and fuel.

Ryan Hunter-Reay and Helio Castroneves run side by side at Kansas. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2010)

pressdog Just watched J Andretti inhale RHR live. Nicely done.

TheEDJE Jay Howard of Sarah Fisher Racing stuffs the car into the wall - joins EJ Viso as out of race - No More Left Turns

IndyCarNation Jay Howard in the wall. http://yfrog.com/cbxr2rj

luczodragon 22 laps left and Rafa 16th. Marco and danica are two he'll be chasing next when it goes green

MyNameIsIRL Yup. RT @mrt_history: I think the races in Sao Paulo and St. Pete were more interesting than this oval. Never thought I'd say that!

pressdog Sarah is having serious rage issues on the radio. Did I miss smthing?

Restart - GREEN GREEN GREEN - Lap 186

TheEDJE The Rising Sun ... SETS

TheEDJE Swiss Chard! De Silvestro helps out in taking Sato and Mutoh out.

Takuma Sato sits in his Lotus liveried KV Racing Technologies Dallara after showing well in his first oval race (he ran in the top 6 most of the day). He was taken out in a crash by fellow countryman Hideki Mutoh of Newman/Haas Racing. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2010)

MyNameIsIRL Ironically, if we finish under yellow it might actually be a closer margin of victory.

IndyRacingNut @MyNameIsIRL Ain't THAT the truth...LOL

IndyCarNation Mutoh and Sato tangle. http://yfrog.com/ba62csj

pressdog Sarah rage: Jay tried to pass. She gave as much room as she could but he got int the marbles. No contact.

Six cars on the lead lap but lapped cars separate them

Restart - GREEN GREEN GREEN - 6 Laps to go

IndyRacingNut GO HELIO GO!!!

Franchitti passed for second place - Target Chip Ganassi P1 & P2

Race Ends - Checkered Flag Waves

autoracingnews Scott Dixon wins his second consecutive race at Kansas Speedway.

23rd win and 16th on Ovals! He did this by leading 74% of the laps.

kvracing Checkered Flag. Moraes #32 KVRT car finishes 7th in Kansas today. Sato 23rd, Viso 27th

scottdixon9 Dominant performance as Scott goes back-to-back @KansasSpeedway for his 22nd Indycar win!

luczodragon P16 for Rafa. Drove smart with car that struggled all day

PippaMann Fast and furious finish to the Kansas Indy Car race. 27 days until the Freedom 100!!! BRING IT!!!!!

FuriousWedge Not many in stands, 4th boring race in a row, Kansas got Sprint Cup shuffling; all signs point to this being final Kansas race for IRL

CrashGladys @FuriousWedge Wouldn't be disappointed if this was last Kansas race 4 IndyCar. I would luv Vegas to come in, but that track is just too fast

Podium of the Road Runner Turbo 300 - P1 - Scott Dixon - Target Chip Ganassi, P2 - Dario Franchitti - Target Chip Ganassi, and P3 - Tony Kanaan - Andretti Autosport. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2010)

This from Timing & Scoring:

IZOD IndyCar Series Race Control
Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 Kansas Speedway
Current Flag: C
Rank No Name Laps Gap Diff Best Lap Best Lap Time Best Lap Speed Last Lap Time In Pit Pits Comment
1 9 Scott Dixon 200 --.---- --.---- 197 0:25.8216 211.91 MPH 0:25.8373 4
2 10 Dario Franchitti 200 3.0528 3.0528 196 0:25.7263 212.70 MPH 0:25.8187 4
3 11 Tony Kanaan 200 0.1682 3.2210 197 0:25.6653 213.20 MPH 0:25.9141 4
4 3 Helio Castroneves 200 0.6090 3.8300 132 0:25.8916 211.34 MPH 0:26.1995 4
5 37 Ryan Hunter-Reay 200 2.2833 6.1133 198 0:25.9154 211.14 MPH 0:26.1293 4
6 6 Ryan Briscoe 200 0.6818 6.7951 132 0:25.8721 211.50 MPH 0:26.1028 5
7 32 Mario Moraes 199 1 lap 1 lap 86 0:25.8461 211.71 MPH 0:26.1289 4
8 77 Alex Tagliani 199 0.2656 0.2656 197 0:25.8256 211.88 MPH 0:25.9614 4
9 43 John Andretti 199 0.4168 0.6824 87 0:25.8837 211.40 MPH 0:26.1219 4
10 14 Vitor Meira 199 0.2344 0.9168 87 0:25.9195 211.11 MPH 0:25.9308 4
11 7 Danica Patrick 198 1 lap 2 laps 194 0:25.7627 212.40 MPH 0:25.9494 4
12 12 Will Power 198 1.0215 1.0215 196 0:25.8667 211.54 MPH 0:26.5052 3
13 26 Marco Andretti 198 0.2212 1.2427 196 0:25.7884 212.18 MPH 0:26.3872 3
14 24 Mike Conway 198 1.4903 2.7330 195 0:25.9902 210.54 MPH 0:26.1959 3
15 4 Dan Wheldon 198 0.2230 2.9560 52 0:25.9851 210.58 MPH 0:26.2238 4
16 2 Raphael Matos 198 1.8505 4.8065 132 0:26.1865 208.96 MPH 0:26.5244 3
17 67 Sarah Fisher 198 0.1473 4.9538 53 0:26.1054 209.61 MPH 0:26.3545 4
18 22 Justin Wilson 197 1 lap 3 laps 193 0:25.9885 210.55 MPH 0:26.3142 4
19 19 Alex Lloyd 197 1.8670 1.8670 196 0:26.0338 210.18 MPH 0:26.4682 4
20 36 Bertrand Baguette 197 0.9787 2.8457 197 0:26.1712 209.08 MPH 0:26.1712 5
21 78 Simona de Silvestro 197 0.8356 3.6813 195 0:26.0894 209.74 MPH 0:26.1917 4
22 34 Mario Romancini 196 1 lap 4 laps 193 0:26.0865 209.76 MPH 0:26.1044 4
23 06 Hideki Mutoh 186 10 laps 14 laps 135 0:25.9911 210.53 MPH 0:47.2968 4 Contact
24 5 Takuma Sato 186 0.3245 0.3245 88 0:25.9228 211.08 MPH 0:47.1690 5 Contact
25 66 Jay Howard 172 14 laps 28 laps 56 0:26.1332 209.38 MPH 0:30.3517 4 Contact
26 18 Milka Duno 84 88 laps 116 laps 5 0:26.2668 208.32 MPH 0:27.0413 3 Mechanical
27 AB F Green 259228 0 0 24 0:00.0024 228000 MPH 0:00.0011 0 KV Racing Technology
27 8 EJ Viso 71 13 laps 129 laps 4 0:25.8893 211.36 MPH 0:27.2387 2 Contact

Next stop ... 2010 Indianapolis 500, Speedway, IN - Sunday, May 30 - broadcast live on ABC at 12:00 noon ET.

... notes from The EDJE