Sam Hornish Jr. beat Al Unser Jr. by the narrowest margin in Indy Racing League history, after 18 lead changes and five cautions in Joliet.
Sam Hornish Jr. won the 2002 Delphi Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway by 0.0024 seconds over Al Unser Jr., the closest finish in the Indy Racing League. It was his fourth win of the season, and it moved him to the top of the points table.
The 2002 Delphi Indy 300 was an Indy Racing League race held on September 8, 2002, at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. Sam Hornish Jr. started from pole and won by 0.0024 seconds, the closest margin of victory in the series' history.
What was the 2002 Delphi Indy 300 and where was it run?
The race was the 14th of 15 scheduled rounds of the 2002 season and the second annual running of the event. It was held before about 50,000 spectators on a 1.5 mi (2.4 km) D-shaped asphalt tri-oval, over a scheduled 200 laps.
The event had been confirmed as part of the IRL schedule in June 2001, months before the race was run.
A 0.0024-second finish, the closest in IRL history, after 18 lead changes and five cautions.
Who was in the field for the race?
The event featured 26 participants from 19 teams, and two drivers changed seats for the weekend. Every car was a Dallara IR-02 or a G-Force GF05, and each one ran a Chevrolet or Infiniti engine.
Dan Wheldon joined Panther Racing to partner Hornish for the last two races of the season. Wheldon was the 1999 U.S. F2000 National Champion and a two-time Indy Lights winner.
Ray took over the No. 20 Sam Schmidt Motorsports car for the rest of the season. He had asked his former manager, A. J. Foyt, for a release to take the seat. He replaced Richie Hearn, who broke his foot at the Belterra Casino Indy 300 in August 2002.
What was the championship picture before the race?
Helio Castroneves led the points with 437 points before the race, and his Team Penske teammate Gil de Ferran was one point behind him. Felipe Giaffone was fourth on 391 points, 73 more than Alex Barron in fifth.
Hornish's win lifted him to the top of the standings, and the race was run with one round left in the season.
How did practice shape the weekend?
There were four practice sessions, two on Friday and two on Saturday. The first and second sessions lasted 90 minutes each, the third lasted 60 minutes and the fourth lasted 30 minutes. Drivers were split into two groups, and each group was allowed to run for half a session.
The first yellow caution came when Hideki Noda's engine failed, and he missed the second session while his team changed the engine. Giaffone then hit the outside barrier between turns three and four, and Hornish's car was damaged, with bent suspension and a punctured chassis tub. Both drivers were unhurt.
Buddy Rice set the fastest time of the first session at 24.4578 seconds, with Eddie Cheever Jr. and Billy Boat next. Hornish's car was repaired in time for the second session, where he was fastest at 24.4910 seconds, while Al Unser Jr. was quickest in the third session at 24.5953 seconds. Two caution flags came out for track inspections in the second session.
The final practice took place on Saturday afternoon in hot weather. The first caution came after 18 minutes, when officials found debris in turn two. Hornish set the best time of that session at 24.3401 seconds, and Wheldon's engine failed in turn four, leaving him stopped nine minutes later.
Who took pole and what was the track record?
Sam Hornish Jr. earned his second IRL pole position with a time of 24.5528 seconds, a new track record at Chicagoland Speedway, at a speed of 222.867 mph (358.670 km/h). Buddy Rice was 0.0570 seconds slower and lined up alongside him on the front row.
Qualifying was held an hour after the third practice session ended, and each driver completed two laps. The weather was pleasant and sunny, and Unser qualified third ahead of Billy Boat in fourth.
Eddie Cheever, Dan Wheldon, Laurent Redon, Robbie Buhl and Giaffone completed the top ten. Scott Mayer did not qualify, because his oil pressure fluctuated and the IRL barred him for inexperience. After qualifying, Hornish said he intended to carry his form into the race.
How did the race unfold?
The race started at 12:10 p.m. Central Daylight Time, in dry and sunny conditions. The air temperature was 86 F (30 C), and the track temperature reached 113 F (45 C). ABC broadcast the race live, with Bob Jenkins as host.
Hornish led into the first corner, but Rice passed him after the first restart.
Unser passed Hornish for second on lap 46 and led the field by 0.0375 seconds on lap 48. Hornish quickly passed Rice to get back in the battle, and a second caution came on lap 52.
By the time the second caution flew, the lead had already changed hands several times, and that pattern set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.
Gil de Ferran crashed after swerving to avoid Renna's lapped car, which had lost fuel pressure. He suffered a concussion and a hairline fracture in his left wrist. The 22-lap caution that followed allowed the field to make stops for tyres, fuel and new front wings.
Unser brought the field back to green on the seventy-fourth lap, and Hornish retook the lead from him on the inside. Hornish's lead of 0.6869 seconds was erased on lap 87, when Salazar's rear wing fell backwards and he spun on the backstretch. That brought out the third caution, and several cars pitted again.
Sharp won the restart off pit road and led for the lap 120 restart. Boat retired on the same lap, after an electrical problem shut his engine down in turn four.
Hornish and Lazier battled for second on the one hundred and thirty-sixth lap, and Hornish passed Lazier three laps later. On lap 144 he got alongside Sharp for the lead in the fourth turn, but Sharp held on and beat him by 0.0042 seconds.
Green-flag pit stops began on the one hundred and forty-fifth lap. Dare crashed into the right-hand wall as he left turn two on lap 153, and his car was badly damaged at the rear. He climbed out without assistance. The crash brought out the fifth and final caution, and the remaining stops were made under yellow.
Castroneves led into the first turn at the lap 166 restart. On the one hundred and sixty-seventh lap Unser took the lead, and Hornish retook it on the one hundred and sixty-ninth lap. Unser overtook him on lap 172, and Hornish regained the lead before the start-finish line.
Boesel passed Rice and Cheever to take sixth on lap 173. From the one hundred and seventy-eighth lap Hornish and Unser raced side by side and swapped the lead over the remaining 21 laps.
Those closing laps were the most contested of the race. Neither driver could build a lead of any size, and the pair stayed close enough to trade positions repeatedly until the flag.
How did the five cautions shape the race?
The race had five cautions, and each one gave teams a choice between staying out and making fuel, tyre and front-wing stops. Because each restart rebuilt the order, the cautions mattered almost as much as the passes made on track.
The first caution came on lap 25, when Laurent Redon's engine failed in turn two. Several drivers stopped for fuel and tyres, and Ward and Noda changed their front wings for aerodynamic reasons. The green flag was shown again on the same lap.
A 22-lap caution followed De Ferran's crash, and teams used the stoppage to take on tyres and fuel and to fit new front wings.
The third caution, on lap 87, followed a spin by Salazar on the backstretch after his rear wing failed. It wiped out Hornish's 0.6869-second lead, and several drivers pitted under it. A fourth caution, for debris, came later in the middle stint.
The fifth and final caution came on lap 153, when Dare crashed. Pit stops for fuel and tyres were made under that yellow, and the race finished under green after the restart.
Who won the 2002 Delphi Indy 300 and by how much?
Sam Hornish Jr. won by 0.0024 seconds, which was about 3 in (76 mm), in the closest finish in the history of the IRL. Lazier took third by passing Castroneves on the final lap, and Cheever finished fifth.
| Finish | Driver | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Hornish Jr., Panther Racing | From pole; 0.0024 seconds ahead of Unser |
| 2 | Al Unser Jr., Kelley Racing | Led in the closing laps |
| 3 | Buddy Lazier, Hemelgarn Racing | Passed Castroneves on the final lap |
| 5 | Eddie Cheever Jr. | Fifth place |
Giaffone, Sharp, Meira, Rice and Wheldon completed the top ten. The final classified finishers were Boesel, Barron, Mack and Ray. The race had 18 lead changes among four different drivers, and Hornish led 102 laps in total on nine occasions.
Hornish earned $126,600 for the win, his fourth of the season and his seventh in 35 IRL events. He celebrated in victory lane in front of the crowd.
How did the drivers react to the finish?
Unser said afterwards that he had believed he had won the race, and that it was the closest wheel-to-wheel racing he expected to see in the country. He recalled his own close victory over Scott Goodyear at the 1992 Indianapolis 500 as a comparison.
Lazier described the battle as hair-raising, saying that he kept losing momentum to slower cars until he was patient enough to pick them off one at a time. He also said his team had been out of sequence during the fuel stops, which later worked in their favour.
Hornish praised Unser's experience and said that passing was hard when the cars were so close together.
Why were Castroneves and Rice fined after the race?
Cheever accused Castroneves of blocking him in the final laps. He said Castroneves had moved him under the white line, and he said he wanted IRL officials to review the last laps and judge whether the move was legal. Castroneves replied that he had been racing to win and that Cheever might have been frustrated at being unable to pass.
Four days after the race, Castroneves and Rice were fined an undisclosed sum for violating IRL rules 8.1 and 8.3. Officials gave the fines for on-track actions that were judged inappropriate during the race, and pointed to a code of ethics that drivers and officials had developed over seven years.
What did the result do to the championship standings?
Hornish moved to the top of the points table with 481 points, ahead of Castroneves on 469 and De Ferran on 443. Giaffone and Barron completed the top five with 419 and 336 points.
De Ferran was judged unfit to race in the season-closing Chevy 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. IRL medical director Henry Block said concussion symptoms rarely vanish in seven to 10 days, and CART driver Max Papis replaced De Ferran for that event.
