Pseudo-Live Blog: Camping World Grand Prix

I am definitely not watching auto racing until the last possible moment right now. There is an epically FANTASTIC tennis match happening at Wimbledon right now, and I dunno if I want to turn it....I will though in a minute or so.

Lap 2
Tennis match over (finally). Roger Federer is the Roger Penske of grand slam tennis matches: 15 victories. Briscoe leading from Wilson (!).

Lap 3
Replay shows I missed stuff already. Matos and Hunter-Reay. No mo race for RHR, it seems. Very well-timed IZOD commercial...YOU'RE DRIVER JUST WRECKED. Highlight of Roger Penske's 100th victory...narrated by Paul Page, which makes me miss him more.

Lap 4
Justin Wilson...TO THE LEEEAAAD! I completely missed that because commercials = me not paying attention.

Lap 5
Marco slow on the escape road with a not-happy tire. Awkward 180 needed to get him pointed the right way. Replay shows collision with Viso...Andretti whining forthcoming.

Lap 7
Ryan Hunter-Reay says the whole field slowed up and he had nowhere to go but up Matos' butt. Wilson ready to lap Marco.

Lap 8
THREE WIDE down the straight! Marco causing many issues, but Wilson and Briscoe finally through. Wilson runs away now that the traffic is gone.

Lap 9
Rahal to the pits. Fuel strategery by the Newman/Haas/Lanigan team. Moraes can't get a lap on Andretti, sho is probably going to kill someone by holding up traffic.

Lap ???
We're in a local break, so I have no idea what's going on. However, Chicagoland Speedway just did a commercial and their one IRL clip was Danica interspersed amongst many NASCAR highlights. Subliminal messaging? Probably.

Lap 12
Moraes finally past Marco. Lost SIX seconds on the leaders thanks to the petulant Andretti.

Lap 13
Danica mention #1 of the day. She's waaaay back in 11th, not having fun. Paul Tracy is wobbly in 12th.

Lap 14
Paul Tracy in to get some magic worked on his front nose. Wilson and Briscoe holding station at the front of the field.

Lap 15
Who Wants to Be A Millionaire is back! The show that rescued game shows and sparked an Oscar-winning movie...BACK!

Lap 18
Wheldon into the pit. I'm wondering if Briscoe is waiting for pit stops to get past Wilson...Penske's crew is kinda better than Coyne's...

Lap 19
Wilson IN THE PITS. 8.7 seconds -- verrrry good. How will the black tires work against Ryan's last few laps on the reds. Danica and Helio in and out as well.

Lap 20
Antinucci spins, brings out full-course caution. Briscoe...pits? He needed fuel. Wilson will likely grab the lead when Briscoe and Moraes come in for tires. Yellows after pit stops on ovals: bad. Yellows after pit stops on roadies: VERY good.

Lap 21
PIT STOPS (for most drivers). Briscoe out at the top of the field of those who pitted. Most everyone else stayed in order on the way out.

Lap 23
We are...GREEN! Wilson followed by....MIKE CONWAY! and....GRAHAM RAHAL!!! I love road racing. Rahal takes second into the bus stop aaaaand Dario Franchitti is in the dirt...I think he might've been helped a bit. YELLOW!

Lap 24
So Moraes divebombed Ed Carpenter, breaking at least one of those cars, then Dario just kinda...spun behind him. Not really sure how that happened.

Lap 25
More strategery as Rahal hits the pits. Franchitti grabs some spiffy new tires. Moraes' car apparently healthy...but he should get a drive through from race control for that DUMB move. Update! he did get the drive through...and his wheel is wobbly.

Lap 26
GREEN GREEN GREEN! Wilson really jumps the heck out of that start and leads Conway and Mutoh through the hills of upstate NY.

Lap 27
MAJOR airtime for Dad's Root Beer (which is actually quite good). Good work for the ginger-Englishman-F3-Champ.

Lap 28
Dan Wheldon having some serious time with Helio's mirrors. Looks like only a matter of time before that pass comes off...and as I say that, it does. Moraes back in the pits for tires and a quick look at the left front.

Lap 30
YELLOW! Paul Tracy sitting against the wall minus a rear wing. Got majorly loose coming out of the toe of the boot and ripped it up.

Lap 32
Graham Rahal apparently not too thrilled with some of the blocking from teammate Bobby D. Pulled up during the yellow and gave a little wave to say something along the lines of, "I'm having a fine day. How are you?"

Lap 33
Strategery! Carpenter and Franchitti into the pits. Too bad for them they're both a lap down.

Lap 34
GREEN! Conway holds on a bit better this time, but Wilson still far and away a better restart. The rest of the field may be calling for an airstrike to catch Justin up.

Lap 35
Vince Welch tells us that red tires = 18-20 laps. As the Pressdog would say: "viewing enhanced".

Lap 40
We've been in a bit of a road course-style fuel conservation parade for a while. Perhaps the wick will be cranked up if we get a couple more yellows and no one has to save fuel.

Lap 41
Helio looked for a pass on Wheldon, but wisely backed off going into the bus stop. We could really use that "push-to-pass" on this track...PIT STOPS!

Lap 42
Wilson nearly stalled in the pits, but caught it and escaped ahead of Conway. Danica nearly caught Wheldon coming out of the pits...Time to watch Helio, Briscoe, and Dixon and see how long they last before pitting.

Lap 43
Helio in. Briscoe to the lead. Dixon and Kanaan behind him.

Lap 44
Dixon to the lead as Briscoe and Kanaan hit the pits. ABC is not telling us the order in which these people come out of the pits...viewing not enhanced.

Lap 45
Wilson out ahead of Dixon. Briscoe THROUGH on Dixon. Helio and Conway all over the rear wing of the #9. Somehow or another, the lead belongs to...Marco Andretti?!

Lap 46
Wilson cycles back to the lead as Andretti pits He was a lap down earlier, by the way. Red cars all over the place a second or so behind Wilson.

Lap 48
Back from the full-screen ad break. Wilson still holding onto the lead. Camera in Danica's footwall watching her work the pedals?! Viewing DEFINITELY enhanced!

Lap 50
Do I hear "Jaws" music? The amount of grey asphalt is shrinking between Castroneves and Wilson...massive five-car battle forthcoming? STAY TUNED! (ironically, I just flipped the channel to avoid watching a GoDaddy ad...)

Lap 51
50 down, 10 to go! By the way, I've been fudging up Helio and Briscoe for a while now...Briscoe is in second, Helio in fourth. Marty Reid gives us the David vs Goliath analogy (finally).

Lap 52
Briscoe is definitely catching up, but Wilson seems to hold it at 1 second and....YELLOW! Mutoh loses the car at the exit of Turn 7. Jaws music playing REALLY LOUD for Wilson now.

Lap 53
Firestone commercial: good. IZOD commercial: bad. Seriously, time for a new approach, IZOD. I did manage to get three pairs of socks from an IZOD outlet for $5 yesterday...that's not too bad.

Dale Coyne is very bad at masking nervousness...can't say as I blame him in this situation. Roger Penske has the "this is the thousandth time I've been in this position" look about him.

Lap 55
GREEN! Wilson runs FAAAARRRR away on the restart. In-freakin'-credible! Dixon now putting mad pressure on Briscoe through the Boot and Wilson disappears into the distance.

Lap 56
Dario Franchitti dive-bombing the wrong way through the order. Viso AND Kanaan past him on the backstretch. Briscoe's car is not happy in Turn 7.

Lap 57
Wilson nearly FOUR SECONDS clear of Briscoe now. Dixon really wants by Briscoe here, but I don't think either of them have anything for Wilson. Somewhere at the Glen, Meesh is smiling...

Lap 58
Incredible business for Dale Coyne Racing and Justin Wilson. Briscoe is definitely holding up the queue here. Airtime for Stefan Wilson, brother of Justin.

Lap 59
Two to go! FOUR AND A HALF SECONDS between Wilson and Briscoe. Unbeeeeeeelievable!

Lap 60
White flag! A volcano needs to open at the bus stop to stop this train!

Checkered Flag!
First-ever win for Dale Coyne Racing! Many kudos to Justin Wilson of a fantasmical victory! Briscoe, Dixon, Castroneves, Andretti, Conway, Viso (!), Kanaan, Doornbos, Wheldon wrap up the top 10.

It says something that, once the green came back out near the end, the gap between Wilson and everyone else grew EVERY LAP. What an amazing drive for the tall man.

Wilson, gentlemanly as ever in his victory speech. Major hug time for Dale Coyne and his wife. Good stuff all around for the Coyne guys...Sonny's BBQ and Z-Line Furniture party for all! Dale himself very happy, after coming here for a Super-Vee race back in the day and being a major team owner since 1990 and finally grabbing victory.

My picks: don't mess with me! My dark horse won, my ninja dark horse got some major second-place time before falling back on pit stops, my winner finished third because he was held up by Briscoe. Danica...finished 11th; that one was a bit wrong, but whatever...road racing in these monstrosities is not her thing.

IndyCar circus flies over Niagra falls to the shores of Lake Ontario. Exhibition Place Toronto, former playplace of the Champ Cars, will be the site of our next street circus and perhaps our next surprise winner