Briscoe and Dixon could only pit once the field had been bunched up behind the safety car, losing their advantage over the chasing pack, but benefited when most of the field came in. Among the few who didn't was Manning, who had been refuelled not long before the incident, and now appeared to hold the aces when the restart came.
The Briton's chances of making it to the chequer improved when Danica Patrick spun in pit-lane, narrowly avoiding hitting Dixon's crew as it cleared up after the Kiwi's stop, prolonging the yellow for another lap or so. Then, when the green did re-appear, it lasted barely a couple of corners before Enrique Bernoldi speared off, injuring his back as he took the aerial route over the kerbs.
Bizarrely, the caution was then extended even further by two incidents while the pack was running at a controlled pace. First, Milka Duno's efforts to keep her tyres up to temperature resulted in her wiping out AJ Foyt IV between turns eight and nine and then, two laps later, Dixon made a similar error, losing the Ganassi car over the kerbs as he weaved left. The Kiwi's mistake - which he openly admitted had been 'bloody stupid' - had a knock-on effect for Briscoe was left with nowhere to go but into the back of his fellow antipodean, forcing both to make unwanted pit-stops for repairs before rejoining in 15th and 16th.
The race finally returned to green on lap 52 - the caution having originally been called on lap 38 - with Hunter-Reay and Kanaan both keen to find a way past Manning. The Briton was unable to repeat the jump he made at the previous, aborted, attempt at a restart - a move helped by the four-way scrap for second in his mirrors - and was powerless to prevent Hunter-Reay from squeezing through into turn one. Kanaan also had a look but was rebuffed into the chicane, before Manning then took a look at repassing RHR.
