Andretti Autosport Upsets Team Penske on the Streets of Long Beach

Long Beach, California - In the battle between Andretti Autosport and Team Penske at the 36th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Andretti Autosport flexed its muscle for the second week in a row and stopped Penske’s winning streak.

On streets lined with palm trees and under the warm California sunshine, Ryan Hunter-Reay, driving the No. 37 IZOD-sponsored car, won by 5.6 seconds over Dreyer & Reinbold’s Justin Wilson, giving team-owner Michael Andretti his first win since 2008. It was an emotional win for Hunter-Reay whose mother passed away in November of last year. Dedicating the win to her, he remembered that her favorite thing to do was to watch him race.

Wilson took second place from Team Penske’s Will Power with 19 to go by pulling up alongside Power to take the inside line in turn one. Power, who won the pole a day earlier and who was favored to win, fell behind early on in the day when his car noticeably lost power after exiting the hairpin. While he managed to place third and still remains atop the championship standings by 42 points, he was unable to retake the lead after the 29th lap.

It was a relatively smooth race with only one full course caution coming out for five laps when rookie Mario Romancini made contact in turn one with Graham Rahal. A sweat-soaked and frustrated Rahal exchanged words with Romancini, who was still in his cockpit--most likely about the rookie’s failure to make a clean pass and last-minute divebomb attempt to take the corner away from Rahal.

Going into the fifth race of the season, four teams are now represented in the top five positions of the standings indicating that the 2010 IZOD IndyCar championship race looks to be the most competitive in recent years.

Next up on the IRL schedule is the first of four consecutive races at oval tracks, including the Indianapolis 500, at Kansas City, Kansas. The Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 takes place on Saturday, May 1, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. (EST) and will be broadcast on ABC.

Robyn Lynne Schechter