WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (Sunday, July 4, 2010) - Will Power claimed Team Penske's first IZOD IndyCar Series victory at Watkins Glen International, winning the sixth Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen.
Series points leader Power, driving the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske entry, passed his teammate Ryan Briscoe with six laps to go and held off Dario Franchitti and Briscoe for his third IZOD IndyCar Series victory of 2010.
Briscoe passed Franchitti on the final lap to help Team Penske record its first 1-2 finish since Edmonton in 2009. Brazilians Raphael Matos of de Ferran Dragon Racing and Mario Moraes of KV Racing Technology completed the top five.
In all, there were seven teams represented among the top 10 finishers in the race.
Also on July 4, French rookie J.K. Vernay strengthened his Firestone Indy Lights championship points lead with a victory in the Corning 100 at Watkins Glen International.
Vernay, driving the No. 7 Lucas Oil/CJ/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, overtook pole sitter James Hinchcliffe entering the "Bus Stop" on Lap 19 of the 3.4-mile, 11-turn circuit and went on to his third victory of the season.
Hinchcliffe, driving the No. 2 TMR-Xtreme Coil Drilling car, finished .2135 of a second behind. Sebastian Saavedra, who won at Iowa Speedway on June 20, finished third in the No. 29 William Rast/Bryan Herta Autosport car.
DAY 3 NOTEBOOK:
Andretti Autosport announced today that Team IZOD driver Ryan Hunter-Reay will run the rest of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season after a group of team sponsors stepped up to fund the effort.
The team also unveiled a new charitable initiative connected to Hunter-Reay's No. 37 entry called "Racing For Cancer." The program, which was developed by Tom Vossman, chief executive officer of team sponsor Inland Industrial Services Group, will raise money for cancer research and other charitable causes in honor of Hunter-Reay's mother, Lydia, who lost her battle with colon cancer in November 2009.
Hunter-Reay was originally slated to run only a partial schedule with primary sponsorship from Phillips-Van Heusen and its IZOD brand, Andretti Autosport continued to seek additional funding to grow the program to fulltime status.
In addition to the efforts of Phillips-Van Heusen and its IZOD brand, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Inland, AirTran Airways, Comfort Revolution, The Michael Fux Foundation, Exel and ICM-Ethanol USA all have rallied to keep Hunter-Reay on track in 2010.
The car will continue to sport the primary sponsor scheme of Team IZOD exception for the race Aug. 28 at Chicagoland Speedway and an event to be determined, where Ethanol USA will be the primary sponsor as it was June 20 at Iowa Speedway.
