IRL catches Castroneves trying to cheat

A bit of controversy during the Indy Car race in Richmond Saturday night saw Tim Cindric question the call that the IRL made on Helio Castroneves when he was sent to the back..

BRIAN BARNHART (President, Indy Racing League Competition and Operation Division): (About Castroneves' penalty): "Helio (Castroneves) was on pit road within the boundaries of pit lane and actually was free to stop his first pass through pit lane. The Race Control (radio) channel said that the No. 3 was OK to do a full stop but they apparently chose not to and drove through. When he came back out we have to pack-up (the field) but before we have the pack up he came back in and entered a closed pit and just did a splash (of ethanol fuel) which is what you are supposed to do. Then when he came back out we had the pack-up, so we opened the pits and everybody else comes back in and he instead goes down the front straightaway trying to get around them but the No. 27 (Leader, Dario Franchitti) beat him to the blend line, and the Timing & Scoring showed that right away, so we informed the teams that it was the No. 3 behind the No. 27, the No. 3 behind the No. 27. He passed him and drove on around him and in actuality pitted a lap ahead of where he should have been."