导出博客文章FORT WORTH, Texas -- Graham Rahal made a last-lap pass and just held on to beat
James Hinchcliffe in the closest finish ever for an IndyCar race at Texas.The
only time Rahal led the race -- competed over a 2 1/2-month span -- was when he
sliced to the bottom of the track coming off of the backstretch on that final
lap Saturday night. He won by eight-thousandths (0.008) of a second, crossing
the line only inches and side-by-side with Hinchcliffe, with Tony Kanaan right
behind them.Rahal almost celebrated a bit too early, pumping a fist over his
head just before crossing the checkered flag with Hinchcliffe right beside him
and still making a final push for the victory.Hinchcliffe had led the Firestone
600 for 76 days. He was leading when the race was initially red-flagged June 12
because of rain after only 71 of 248 laps, and dominated after it resumed until
three late restarts.Rahals fourth career win came at the high-banked, 1
1/2-mile-oval where four years ago he appeared headed for victory before
brushing the wall on the last lap and finishing second to Justin
Wilson.Hinchcliffe led 188 laps overall in the race, including 157 of the 177
laps run Saturday night.Series points leader Simon Pagenaud was fourth, and
extended his lead to from 20 to 28 points over Team Penske teammate Will Power
with two races left. Power, who won four of the previous six races with
runner-up finishes in the other two, was eighth at Texas.Ed Carpenter twice had
contact with other cars while running second behind Hinchcliffe in the later
laps.Carpenter was within about 2 seconds of the lead on Lap 213 when Scott
Dixon, trying to get back on the lead lap, made contact coming off the
frontstretch. That sent Dixon spinning, and Carpenter believes he might have cut
a tire though he was able to stay on the track and even took the lead after
that.After the ensuing caution, Hinchcliffe and Carpenter restarted 1-2 on lap
221, and Carpenter went low coming off the backstretch and led at the line by a
matter of inches. Hinchcliffe went back in front on the next lap, and was still
there when Carpenter got loose coming out of Turn 4 on lap 225 and made contact
with Helio Castroneves and slammed into the wall to end his race.There was one
more caution after that, when lead-lap car Mikhail Aleshin crashed, setting up
the final sprint to the finish.It was the fifth-closest finish in IndyCar Series
history and the closest of any race ever at the Texas track that has hosted
NASCAR and IndyCar races since 1997. At one point, the top four finishers were
running side-by-side on the backstretch.Some other notable items from IndyCars
one-day return to Texas:BACK THE BLUE: Two police officers wounded on duty,
Jorge Barrientos from Dallas and Matt Pearce from Fort Worth, served as co-grand
mashals and gave drivers the command to start their engines. Barrientos was
wounded in the July 7 downtown Dallas attack that left five officers dead,
Pearce survived being shot multiple times by a fugitive during a manhunt in
March. Pearce was the grand marshal in June. Every IndyCar on Saturday night had
a Back the Blue decal, and before the race drivers wore caps representing
different local police and national law enforcement agencies.FAST BREAK: Takuma
Sato was only two laps into the short practice session when something broke in
the car and the No. 14 car slammed into the wall coming out of Turn 4. The A.J.
Foyt Racing team got the car fixed and ready for the restart.UP NEXT: IndyCar is
going to Watkins Glen instead of Boston next Sunday for the second-to-last race
of the season. When the planned Boston race was canceled earlier this year,
Watkins Glen become the replacement for the Labor Day weekend date. The last
IndyCar race at Watkins Glen was in 2010, and won by Power.---AP Auto Racing
Website:
www.racing.ap.org
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injury he suffered in the preseason.
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Sale . The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their
side. Weber had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout
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., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., took sixth spot on Saturday in pairs at
the NHK Trophy ISU Grand Prix figure skating competition.
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One game after a miserable showing in Oklahoma City, Gay tied a career high with
41 points and the Sacramento Kings cruised to a 114-97 victory at the New
Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night.
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Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling "puts an end to my dreams of being a top
player," the 27-year-old Troicki said in a statement. "I worked my entire life
for it, and it has been taken away from me in one afternoon by a doctor I didnt
know," said Troicki, whose ranking peaked at No. NEWARK, N.J. -- Tim Camp, the
assistant athletic director for sports information at NJIT, has died. He was
59.The school announced his death on Thursday. Camp, who had battled cancer,
died on Wednesday.Camp joined the NJIT staff in August 2005 following 16 years
at Saint Peters College in Jersey City, where he served as Assistant Director of
Athletics for Sports Information.He was inducted into the Saint Peters Hall of
Fame in 2008 and was also honored by the Met Basketball Writers Association with
its Good Guy Award.At NJIT, Camps responsibilities included assisting in the
administration of the athletics department, publicizingg the activities of the
Highlanders 19 varsity teams, development and production of all the athletic
publications, and overseeing the maintenance of the departments
website.ddddddddddddThis is a loss for the entire NJIT community, said Lenny
Kaplan, NJITs assistant vice president/director of athletics. I have known Tim
for over 25 years, and knew him as a part-time consigliere, and always a friend.
He had great recall, always with a story or bit of history.Funeral arrangements
have not been announced. ' ' '
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