The lead changed a whopping 68 times during the 200-lap race, with most of those passes coming in the last 50 laps. Usually it involved one of Mario Andretti's five cars in the race, but once in a while you'd see Tony Kanaan or A.J. Allmendinger slip into the lead. The drivers appeared to be testing their cars by taking the lead and then dropping back to conserve fuel. Then, there was Kanaan getting through the four-car mad scramble to the front on the lap 197 restart to regain the lead for good. And even though the caution-flag ending was somewhat anticlimactic thanks to Dario Franchitti's accident a few seconds later, it was great to see Kanaan finally win the 500 in his 12th attempt.
In previous years, it felt like the IndyCar racing circuit had to manufacture interest by heavily promoting Danika Patrick (who is now being heavily promoted by NASCAR). But if the style of racing I saw Sunday is any indication of where IndyCar racing is headed, the circuit could have a bright future. After all, it's more interesting to see strategy unfolding on the track than wrecks (NASCAR) or cars following each other in the same order (Formula 1).
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