Caution flag helps Kanaan triumph

Tony Kanaan was doubly lucky, Danica Patrick had her best finish, second, and the IndyCar Series is headed for a wild finale after Sunday’s Detroit Indy Grand Prix.

Kanaan stayed on the track during a late series of pit stops and remained ahead of a last-lap melee to claim his series-best sixth victory of the season and 12th of his career.

The Brazilian, who has won three of the last four series races, kept his championship hopes alive heading into next Sunday’s series finale at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.

“It was a weird race,” Kanaan said. “The yellow came out at the right time, so it was good to stay in the front.”

The crash, which started when Buddy Rice ran out of fuel with seconds to go, collected series points leader Scott Dixon and Kanaan’s Andretti Green Racing teammate, Dario Franchitti.

Despite the crash, which dropped Franchitti from fourth to sixth, he ended the day three points ahead of Dixon. Kanaan, 39 points behind his teammate, remains mathematically alive in the championship hunt.

Dixon, who won Aug. 26 at Sonoma, Calif., and had the points lead after a dominant Franchitti collided with Marco Andretti, was eighth.

Kanaan chose to stay on the track while most of the field pitted after a late-race caution and was in front when IndyCar officials declared the race would be a timed event. Officials set the time limit of the race at 2 hours 10 minutes or 90 laps and informed crews at the race’s two-hour mark that the timing rules were in place.

Justin Wilson won the Champ Car Bavaria Grand Prix at Assen, Netherlands, holding off Jan Heylen of Belgium to clinch his first race of the season.

Bruno Junqueira was third.

Sebastien Bourdais’ hopes of clinching a fourth consecutive title were hampered after a poor start forced him to drop from pole position. It was the Frenchman’s first loss in four races in Europe.

Bourdais, who finished seventh, still has a 58-point lead over Wilson heading into the next race on Oct. 21 at Surfers Paradise, Australia.

Jeff Arend led qualifying in funny car and Max Naylor was tops in pro stock at the U.S. Nationals at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Clermont, Ind. Top-fuel leader Tony Schumacher and pro stock motorcycle racer Chip Ellis also led their events.