INDIANAPOLIS — An unpredictable 19-year-old and a teammate too fast to pass cost Helio Castroneves his chance to make history at the Indianapolis 500.
Spiderman's quest for an unprecedented three straight titles fizzled with 30 laps left Sunday when he tried to negotiate around the lapped car of A.J. Foyt IV and lost the lead to teammate Gil de Ferran.
"That was the move of the race right there," Castroneves said.
The Brazilian spent the final 75 miles behind de Ferran, his Penske teammate. Three yellow flags down the stretch made it impossible for him to gather enough momentum to pass.
It was great proof that it takes skill, speed and, yes, more than a few good breaks to win a race like this once, let alone three straight times.
Castroneves had it all the past two years. This time, his luck was lacking.
"He deserved it," Castroneves said. "I don't know if he deserved it more than me, but that's the way it goes."
Like the past two years, Castroneves marked the end of the race with his trademark climb up the fence at the finish line. The only difference this time: He was side-by-side with the winner instead of celebrating his own victory.
Alas, it's not a good year for history. Six weeks ago, it was Tiger Woods who couldn't win an unprecedented three straight green jackets at the Masters. Now, Castroneves has to settle for being one of five drivers to win two straight Borg-Warner trophies at Indy. Al Unser Sr. also finished second in his try for three straight in 1972.
"Second place isn't a bad place at all," Castroneves said. "It's better than third. I'm happier — or I guess you can say I'm less upset — because it's my teammate up there."
Driving Penske machinery, Castroneves clearly had one of the two best cars in the field, along with de Ferran. The luck of the draw would determine this one.
Involved in a handful of wrecks through these Indy weeks, Foyt was an unknown quantity in Castroneves' eyes as he approached him in Turn 2 on the 170th lap. Waiting to see what Foyt would do, Castroneves slowed and downshifted. By the time he reached the back straightaway, he watched de Ferran pass — a mistake that cost him the race.
"When you do those things here, man, that's it," Castroneves said. "The whole train is passing by and obviously Gil passed."
A.J. Foyt defended his grandson. "He wasn't blocking," Foyt said. "I told him to back off and let them go. He was smart enough to do that."
Castroneves's main problem was that three yellow flags kept slowing his momentum.
By the time the final restart came with six laps left, it was clear he wouldn't be able to overcome an equally strong car — unless he took a major risk that might have cost both Penske drivers the race.
"Once one of them is in the lead, playing those kind of games isn't worth anything at all," Penske said.
So, Penske extended his record with a 13th victory as an owner. And Castroneves lost by .299 seconds to fall to 2-1 in his three appearances at Indy.
Castroneves was in no mood to play "what-if," if only because he knows what a big role luck played in his victory last year. Then, Castroneves beat Paul Tracy in a disputed finish after IRL officials determined Castroneves was barely ahead of Tracy when a yellow flag came out on the second-to-last lap. Castroneves was running on fumes at the time.
"Some say if the yellow hadn't come out last year, would I have finished?" Castroneves said. "We'll never know."
He said he wasn't discouraged — only disappointed.
"I can't say my world's going to go down," he said. "No, you have to keep working hard. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. That's the fun part of this place."