Sarah Fisher Racing Indy 500 Race Report

CARPENTER RECORDS SFR'S BEST FINISH AT INDIANAPOLIS
SFR Driver Ed Carpenter Finishes 11th in the 2011 Indianapolis 500

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Sarah Fisher Racing (SFR) driver, Ed Carpenter, returned to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) Sunday to mark his eighth start on the famed 2.5-mile oval. He started the race in the eighth spot, advancing as far as first place during the race. Carpenter had a competitive racecar and worked his way through the field in his No. 67 Dollar General Honda powered Dallara, before developing understeer and an overall lack of grip just past the halfway point. The team made a pit stop, their fourth of the day, on lap 136 to resolve the handling issues and get Carpenter back in the fight.

Ed Carpenter: "It was a weird day today. We were running pretty good early on and had good track position. Things were going well, but halfway through we just lost a handle on the car. We were trying different changes on stops and we finally figured it out, but it was probably one stop too late. We lost a lot of track position and struggled to get back in the mix. It's a disappointing finish to the month for the Dollar General guys. We deserve better than 11th for how we ran this month, but that's the way it goes sometimes at Indy; it breaks your heart."

Ed Carpenter, Sarah Fisher Racing

Photo by: Covy Moore

Sarah Fisher: "I'm really proud of the effort that the Dollar General team put forth this month. They ran up front all day, which is a testament to their hard work and never giving up on a car that isn't perfect. We spoiled ourselves by being fast all the way up until the last stop, so 11th doesn't seem as good as it is for our small team. Now that we have race one of the season under our belt, we'll attack race number two with a vengeance."

The 95th running of the Indianapolis 500 was a hot one, with air temperatures reaching 90 degrees and track temperatures exceeding 115 degrees. Bryan Herta Autosport's Dan Wheldon took the checkered flag, followed closely by Panther Racing's JR Hildebrand, who made contact with the turn-4 wall on the last lap of the race.

Carpenter will continue his 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series season Saturday, June 11 at Texas Motor Speedway.

-source: sfr