Kanaan won the 2006 Milwaukee Indy 225 from fourth on the grid

Starting fourth, Tony Kanaan took the lead for good late on at the Milwaukee Mile on 23 July, and the Indy 225 ended with him on top. Sam Hornish Jr. finished second for Marlboro Team Penske, and Tomas Scheckter was third for Vision Racing. It was Kanaan's seventh win in the IndyCar Series and his first of the season.

Where did the championship stand before the race?

Sam Hornish Jr. led the points with 316, five ahead of Scott Dixon and six ahead of Helio Castroneves. Dan Wheldon was fourth on 300 and Vitor Meira fifth on 262. Hornish was the defending race champion at Milwaukee, and the event was the tenth of 14 open-wheel races that season.

Hornish had a busy few weeks. He had won the Indianapolis 500 that year, and days before the Milwaukee race he had been at the White House to meet President George W. Bush about that victory.

Kanaan started fourth, led four times for 127 laps, and beat Hornish to the flag at Milwaukee.

What made the Milwaukee Mile a difficult track?

The Milwaukee Mile is a four-turn asphalt oval of 1.015 miles. The turns are banked at 9.25 degrees, while the front and back straights carry only 2.5 degrees. The 225-lap race covered 228.375 miles (367.534 km), and it was only the third running of the event, which had begun in 2004.

Hornish said the short straights and flat turns made passing very difficult, and he said a good handling car and a little patience would be needed to reach victory lane. Castroneves said the track felt unlike any other on the calendar, mainly because of its lack of banking.

Danica Patrick expected hot temperatures to produce a slippery surface and more cautions. Dario Franchitti said he had enjoyed the Milwaukee Mile and had a very good car there in each of the last two years, and he was clear about the goal: to win.

How did practice and qualifying set the grid?

Helio Castroneves took his 14th IndyCar pole position with a lap of 21.1854 seconds. That beat the track record Hornish had set in 2005 and took Castroneves past Greg Ray as the series' all-time pole leader. Hornish was second on the front row, just 0.0120 seconds slower, and held pole until Castroneves' lap.

Four practice sessions came before the Sunday race, two on Friday and two on Saturday, lasting 120, 90, 60 and 30 minutes. Franchitti led the first session at 21.5691 seconds, and Andretti was fastest in the second at 21.5839 seconds. Castroneves set 21.1046 seconds in the third session on Saturday morning, with Hornish, Jeff Simmons, Meira and Andretti behind him.

Ryan Briscoe had to switch to a backup car after hitting the SAFER barrier at turn four in practice. Patrick led the final session on Saturday afternoon at 22.1654 seconds, ahead of Hornish, Meira, Andretti and Castroneves.

Qualifying began forty-five minutes after the third practice ended. Each driver completed two timed laps, and the quicker one set the starting position. Andretti was third, Kanaan fourth and Meira fifth, while Simmons, Ed Carpenter, Scheckter, Bryan Herta and Dixon took sixth to tenth.

Wheldon and Franchitti were in the next group, with Rice, Patrick, Matsuura, Bucknum, Sharp and Briscoe filling out the field. Bucknum had qualified 16th, but he started 18th after an engine swap following the final practice.

How did the race open and develop?

Castroneves kept pole on the first lap, but Kanaan passed his teammate Andretti and Hornish to move into second almost at once. By the tenth lap Castroneves had opened a 0.62-second gap over Kanaan, while Briscoe pulled into the pits with a right-rear suspension problem.

ESPN's live coverage opened at half past noon Central Daylight Time, with Marty Reid, Rusty Wallace and Scott Goodyear in the commentary box. The air was 77 F (25 C) and the track 105 F (41 C). The race's namesake, A. J. Foyt, started the field himself, only weeks after knee surgery. Johnny Rutherford led the cars out as pace car driver.

Ten laps later Castroneves began to work through lapped traffic, which let Kanaan close the gap. Kanaan tried for the lead around lap 21, but Castroneves held on and built a quarter-second advantage by lap 25. Kanaan moved ahead for the first time on lap 32.

Matsuura pitted for tyres and adjustments. Andretti passed Castroneves for second, and Meira went by him for third three laps later.

What happened under the first cautions?

Stops under green began on lap 70, when Andretti and Franchitti came in for fresh tyres and fuel. Kanaan stopped four laps later, and after the stops he regained the lead with a seven-second margin over Andretti. The first caution came on lap 96 for debris in turn three.

Under that caution Castroneves had a front wing adjusted, and Carpenter stopped twice after dropping a wheel weight as he left his pit stall. Kanaan, Franchitti and Meira stayed on track and led the restart on lap 108.

Franchitti went around Kanaan on the back straight to lead on lap 109. The second yellow came two laps afterwards, when Castroneves and Carpenter tangled in turn three. Carpenter retired, and Castroneves' suspension was damaged.

Franchitti led the restart on lap 116. Kanaan drove to the left to pass him in turn one on lap 125, backed off, and then completed the move and regained the lead. Two laps later Meira hit the turn-three wall heavily, which brought out the third caution and ended his race.

Who was leading in the closing stages?

Andretti took the lead on lap 141 with a quick pit stop, and he led at the lap-146 restart. Scheckter and Kanaan followed, and Kanaan passed Scheckter for second the following lap. The gap to Andretti shrank from 1.1 seconds to 0.4 over the next 33 laps.

On lap 180 Kanaan dived inside Andretti at turn three and took the lead. Hornish moved past Herta into fourth, and Dixon pitted for tyres and fuel two laps later.

The last caution came on lap 200, after Bucknum drifted up the track and struck the turn-four wall, leaving his car beyond repair. The leaders all pitted under that yellow, and Kanaan led the restart on lap 209 with Andretti and Franchitti behind.

Hornish passed Franchitti for third in turn three, then went around Andretti for second three laps later. Scheckter moved into third late on, and the order was set for the finish.

How did Kanaan hold on to win?

On lap 220 Kanaan's car began to sputter, which raised fears of running out of fuel. Over the closing five laps he stayed in front, and that gave him his seventh IndyCar Series win. It was also the first victory of 2006 for Andretti Green Racing.

The race had four yellow periods and eight lead changes between six drivers. Kanaan led four separate spells, totalling 127 laps, more than anyone else.

What did the drivers say after the race?

Kanaan credited the team's testing at the track, and he said the win meant more to him than clinching the 2004 championship. Hornish admitted his car had not handled the way it needed to in the first half, and the team had tried to save fuel for a two-stop race.

He named Camara, Klein, Franchitti and Marco Andretti as the men whose testing at the track had paid off. Hornish pointed to Castroneves' brief return to the race as a sign of how intense the title battle had become.

Scheckter's third place was the first top-five finish for Vision Racing, and he said his last pit stop for tyres gave him enough momentum to pass four drivers after the final restart. Andretti said his fuel saving and a loose car cost him several positions in the final 20 laps.

Franchitti was disappointed because his tyres wore out quickly, but he congratulated Kanaan. Herta described hanging on through the last green-flag run, with understeer his problem. Wheldon said the rest of the season would come down to one approach: win at all costs.

Where did the championship stand afterwards?

Hornish finished with 356 points to extend his lead, ahead of Dixon on 331 and Castroneves on 326. Kanaan and Meira were tied for fifth on 277 points, with four races remaining in the season.

Hornish's lead over Dixon had been five points before the race and grew to 25. Castroneves held third, and Wheldon finished the race in fourth, two points behind him in the standings.

What were the top finishers?