DARIO FRANCHITTI of Scotland put one of the five Andretti Green Racing Dallaras in Victory Circle Sunday at the rain-shortened 91st Indianapolis 500.

He said "I can hardly believe it. Who would have thought it. Can you believe it? I couldn't believe it, just driving in there. It's fantastic. To be a member of this club is fantastic."

Franchitti had to pit before the restart to change a tyre which was cut by debris from the accident prior to the red flag. He worked his way back up to the lead by lap 155 and the race was called eleven laps later.

There must have been many emotions for MICHAEL ANDRETTI - team owner of the winning car, father of and team owner for the driver who flipped so horrendously, team owner for the driver who led the most laps and almost won except for some bad luck, and team owner for the top finishing female who ran as high as second and finished eighth.

Nineteen-year old MARCO ANDRETTI, grandson of MARIO ANDRETTI and son of team owner MICHAEL, was the driver who flipped and walked away... eventually. He said "I was upside down for a long time. I'm so lucky. I'm going to be bruised, but to come out of that bruised, I'm going to be happy. I'm very lucky, for sure. What's making me overcome the bruises right now is this [Victory Lane with Franchitti]. I'm so happy for Dario, that's all I can say."

Andretti talked about his accident. "My mirror was broke, so I had no idea who was outside me, whoever it was. I think it might have been Dan [WHELDON]. I apologise. I'm so thankful Andretti Green came out on top. It's just one of those days where, for whatever reason, I lost the balance. It rained, we went out, and I was nowhere. The NYSE car was definitely a contender in the beginning."

Young Andretti led once for 13 laps, and was credited with a 24th place finish, four laps down.

It was indeed Wheldon who was hit by Andretti. He said: "I'm fine. I was running on the outside of Marco. Unfortunately, he hit me. Thank goodness he's all right. It didn't seem anything we did today worked very well for us. It was just one of those days. I wanted to win the Indianapolis 500, but we'll focus on the championship."

Wheldon finished 22nd, three laps down. He was the points leader going into the race. By my calculations, that honour now falls to his team-mate, SCOTT DIXON, who finished second and leads with 184 points, one point ahead of Wheldon. Franchitti is third with 181 points. All unofficial.

BUDDY RICE slowed to avoid Marco Andretti's accident and said he was hit from behind. He was bummed out because he had been running well, behind VITOR MEIRA - and Meira finished fourth. Rice was credited with a 25th place finish, four laps down.

Also caught up in that melee was ED CARPENTER. He retired in 17th place, two laps down.