Briscoe had been looking a good bet to wrest the early lead back from Wilson, but his bid was scuppered when the caution flags flew just as he was making his run to the pits. Unable to take on a full complement of fuel and tyres under the regulations, the Australian had to make a second stop, which dropped him down the order.
"Big congrats to Dale Coyne, the whole team and Justin," polesitter Briscoe said magnanimously, "We went a lap further than him in the first stint, and that was going to get us the lead back, but unfortunately the yellow came and we had to make two pit-stops.
"That put us back and we had to work hard to come through the field. We had some great pit-stops and it was pretty exciting at the end with everybody on the softer compound. I had my hands full defending them."
Briscoe's result ensured that the pole winner has still to win the IndyCar race at The Glen in five visits, the Australian feeling the pain more than once. Previous race winner Dixon, meanwhile, admitted that third was the best that he could do in the lead Ganassi car.
"It was definitely pretty tough," the Kiwi admitted, "We lost a spot at the start when I didn't shift down enough gears and [Mario] Moraes got by us, so it was a tough first stint. We had about eight to ten laps on the tyres from qualifying, and they wore out pretty quick. We got caught out on strategy, and we didn't have enough. Congratulations to Justin - he drove a fantastic race and was unstoppable today but, thanks to the Target boys, we still had a good day."
Leading rookie Conway ran strongly all day, challenging Wilson for the lead mid-race before being shuffled back during the later pit-stops as the more experienced Ganassi and Penske crews pushed their men to the fore. Sixth, however, was still the Dreyer & Reinbold driver's best showing of the season.
"It was a great result for everybody," the Briton confirmed, "It was a shame that we couldn't quite get the result in the end. It was a case of me coming out of the box, and I lost a couple of seconds. That gave me the gap to Wilson, and everyone came in between us. We were running top five and saving fuel, but I struggled with the balance in the end."
Viso's seventh place was a season high for the #13 PDVSA HVM Racing team, finally giving the Venezuelan and Keith Wiggins' outfit some reward for the endeavours.
"We had a pretty good race, forgetting the first few laps [when] I broke my front wing [in the contact with Andretti]," Viso reported, "Other than that, we had a good car and we had very, very good pit-stops. I am very proud of being able to work very hard throughout the championship to achieve, little by little, better results."
Tony Kanaan, Robert Doornbos - who started 17th in the #06 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing entry before equalling his best result of the season - and Dan Wheldon rounded out the top ten, with Danica Patrick eleventh. Paul Tracy's return ended in the Turn Seven barriers after an error from the veteran, while Ryan-Hunter Reay's spell as successor to the Canadian in the AJ Foyt entry ended on the opening tour.
