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Indy 500 Capsule Posted: Sunday May 26, 2002 1:30 PMUpdated: Sunday May 26, 2002 3:23 PM INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- A glance at Sunday's Indy 500:
100 MILESRookie Tomas Scheckter, son of 1979 Formula One champion Jody Scheckter, went in front during the first flurry of pit stops and held a .322-second lead over Sam Hornish Jr. After a clean start, pole-sitter Bruno Junqueira began pulling away and led by almost two seconds before the first yellow for a crash in the first turn by Greg Ray on the 29th lap. Ray was not injured. All the leaders took pit stops under the yellow, but Junqueira's car stalled as he tried to exit, putting Scheckter into the lead and Hornish second. Tony Kanaan, the fastest rookie qualifier, moved from fifth to third.
200 MILESKanaan passed Hornish for second place after 50 laps, a quarter through the race, and trailed Scheckter by just over 1 second as all three leaders were turning laps at more than 225 mph. During the next round of pit stops, all the leaders came in again, putting Scott Sharp, then Al Unser Jr. in the lead briefly. When the field sorted out, Kanaan was in front of Scheckter by 1.3 seconds. The race passed the 200-mile mark under the second yellow caution for debris on the track after Hornish brushed the wall. Hornish remained in the car as his crew worked on it. Also out of the race was last-place starter Mark Dismore. Junqueira was running 17th.
300 MILESAfter 87 laps, Junqueira went out with a blown engine and Jimmy Vasser departed with a bad gearbox before Kanaan, still in the lead, spun through some oil on the track and hit the wall in the fourth turn. Scheckter regained the lead under the yellow and was 4.3 seconds ahead of Gil de Ferran as the race reached 300 miles. Scheckter pitted for fuel on the next lap, putting de Ferran in the lead and Michael Andretti second. Sharp, the first out after starting from the pole last year, was running third. The top 13 were on the lead lap. Hornish was back in the race and running 27th. Others out included rookie Rick Treadway, who also hit the wall about the same time as Kanaan.
400 MILESThe 21-year-old Scheckter, trying to become the youngest winner in Indy 500 history, regained the lead on the 132nd lap after the next round of pit stops and began pulling away from the rest of the field. He had a lead of more than 10 seconds before his next pit stop, yielding the lead again to de Ferran. When de Ferran pitted, the lead briefly went to Felipe Giaffone after 400 miles. But he and the other leaders made their next pit stops shortly after that, putting rookie Alex Barron in the lead and Scheckter running second. Scheckter want back into the lead a few laps later and led Paul Tracy by 8.3 seconds with 30 laps to go.
500 MILESScheckter's bid for victory ended with 27 laps to go when he hit the wall hard coming out of the fourth turn. He was not injured. During the yellow caution, the fourth of the race, Giaffone, then defending champion Helio Castroneves took the lead. The green light came on with 19 laps to go, and Castroneves -- who did not make another pit stop, gambling he had enough fuel -- took a 2.8-second lead over Giaffone. Tracy passed Giaffone for second and pulled within .224 second of Castroneves with two laps to go. Rookie Laurent Redon then crashed, locking Castroneves in first place as the race ended under the yellow. Castroneves became the first to win consecutive races at Indy since Al Unser Sr. in 1970-71 and extended car owner Roger Penske's record to 12 victories.
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