Franchitti Takes Iowa 250 Winners Trophy

It’s already been a gruelling season but things are looking up for Dario Franchitti after his win at the Iowa 250 this past weekend. The triumph marks his second victory so far this season and gives Franchitti an edge over many fellow competitors.

Dario Franchitti’s winning streak started earlier this year in April at Long Beach where he walked away with the winner’s trophy for the ninth time in his career. But it seems things weren’t about to end there for Franchitti – just this weekend he managed to take home another trophy at the Iowa Corn Indy 250. The achievement also marks his second victory at the Iowa Speedway.

However the win wasn’t easy. With the race barely underway, a number of accidents and cautions brought the race to an almost unbearably slow pace. By halfway as many as seven cars had been eliminated from the running – knocked out by other drivers who were also no doubt doing their best to stay on course. One of those eliminated was Tony Kanaan who had been leading the pack for the first 48 laps. With Kanaan out of the way it was easy for Briscoe to move into first place and continue leading the pack for 85 laps. However Franchitti slowly made his way to the head of the pack, eventually overtaking Briscoe with just 50 laps to go and forcing Briscoe to finish second for the third time in a row. The two were followed over the finish line by Hideki Mutoh and Dan Wheldon respectively. Hardly anyone could have expected pole-sitter Helio Castroneves to finish only seventh.

After Sunday’s race Franchitti now has ten career wins under his belt and no doubt he has set his cap on getting more. Fans will be watching closely for the rest of the season to see if he can race well enough to gain any more victories before the season ends. However, opposition will be fierce if this race was anything to go by, since spectators were treated to some of the best competition the IndyCar Series has seen so far this season.