For the second week running, Marco Andretti looked on for a decent haul of IndyCar Series points, maybe even the win, but, for the second week running, he ended his race in the wall with just a handful of laps to go, ending proceedings under yellow.
Whereas last Sunday's crash at the Milwaukee Mile was one that the youngster admitted to having a hand in after he slid up into Ed Carpenter, he was less accommodating at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night after coming together with Ryan Hunter-Reay.
The pair had been frontrunners throughout the Bombardier Learjet 550k, with Andretti a match for points leader Scott Dixon and heading the race approaching mid-distance. Their promising run, however, ended three laps shy of the chequered flag when, attempting to follow Dixon under the Blockbuster-backed AGR car, Hunter-Reay and Andretti made hard contact, both with each other and the turn four wall.
Naturally, both drivers had differing views of the incident, with Andretti claiming that his rival was at fault.
"I really feel bad for the whole Blockbuster crew," he lamented, "We were running so well, as was Ryan. I feel kind of bad for both of us, but the fact is there are some guys you can run close with and some guys you can't. He clearly hit the white line and that is that. We ran well today but, to me, that doesn't matter. We need to bring home results. It's very disappointing."
Until the fateful moment, Saturday had been the type of race that Hunter-Reay and Rahal Letterman Racing had been shooting for all year, with RHR enjoying the best outing of his young IndyCar career, starting tenth and storming through to a leading position that he appeared capable of retaining all night. Believing that he had eventual winner Dixon in his sights approaching the final three laps, the result was a bitter blow, leaving the Ethanol car 20th, and nursing its first DNF of the season.
