Joe Roberts became the first American to win a grand prix motorcycle race since Ben Spies in the 2011 Dutch TT in a shortened Moto2 race at Portimão. Besides Roberts, the French had a good day in Portugal. Imola was packed for its first attended Formula One race since 2006, and Max Verstappen had a grand slam, the second consecutive grand slam in Formula One. Ferrari was in shambles. There was another sprint qualifying race and people are trying too hard to make them stick. IndyCar did some testing. The pit exit access road caused a few scares at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Supercross will likely crown a hometown champion next week. The Vancouver Formula E round was cancelled, clearing up Canada Day weekend for many. The NASCAR race was a mess. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
Stolen Victories
For the second consecutive weekend, the NASCAR Cup race saw the winner lead only the final lap. When Kyle Busch won last week at Bristol after Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe came together in the final corner, it was quickly labeled as a stolen victory, and Busch was one of the first to admit it fell in his lap.
It balances out over the course of a career. There are probably a half-dozen if not more Cup races that Kyle Busch can point to as ones that got away from him that were surely his. At the same time, he has at least six or seven victories that he won went it wasn't necessarily his day, but he was in the right place at the right time. Bristol ended up falling in that latter category.
Stolen victories are nothing new, and every great driver has a few. Some lesser drivers even got away with robbery. With theft on our mind, why not look over some of the most notable stolen victories?
Even royalty isn't above it.
The 1979 Daytona 500 is drilled into our minds because NASCAR said so, but the final lap accident between Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison led to a stolen victory. With the top two in the grass on the inside of turn three at Daytona, Richard Petty swept through for his sixth Daytona 500 victory ahead of Darrell Waltrip and A.J. Foyt. Petty did lead 12 laps today, but prior to taking the checkered flag in first position he had not led since lap 71.
In the closing laps, a victory was a distant thought. He was also behind Foyt at the start of the final lap, only for Foyt to lift forgetting NASCAR allowed drivers to race back to the start/finish line for their positions when the caution came out. Either way, it still counts to his 200-victory total, and to think if Yarborough and Allison had just played nice or if one of them was able to stay on track, Petty would be stuck on 199.
From one Daytona 500 to another, the 2011 race saw 15 cars involved in accidents within the first 30 laps of the race. Such a high attrition race opened the door to many. Ryan Newman and Clint Bowyer were the only two drivers to lead over 30 laps of the race, but they were caught in an accident with three laps to go. With a green-white-checkered finish set, David Ragan held the lead, but Ragan had an improper restart, changing lanes before taking the green flag. While another accident occurred behind the leaders, forcing another attempt at a green flag finish, Ragan was penalized and dropped to the rear of the field.
Trevor Bayne, who was making this second career Cup start inherited the lead. Bayne led the final six laps and held off Carl Edwards, David Gilliland and Bobby Labonte to become the youngest Daytona 500 winner. While Petty might have been stuck on 199 without the 1979 finish, Bayne would likely still be on zero if it weren't for how the 2011 race played out. It remains Bayne's only Cup victory. He wouldn't get another top five finish in the Cup Series until 2016 and in 187 starts he has only five top five finishes. His last Cup start was in 2018 at 27 years old.
The Daytona 500 is littered with these type of winners. But Derrike Cope won the race because Dale Earnhardt hit a seagull entering turn three on the final lap and it cut down Earnhardt's tire. Cope won the race ahead of Terry Labonte. Earnhardt limped home in fifth despite leading 155 laps. Cope led five laps, though four of those laps came in the final 21 laps, he was even leading with five to go before Earnhardt passed him on the final restart.
We have seen the good and we have seen the bad, but the middle also steals victories.
Joey Logano's first career Cup victory at Loudon came when the team decided not to pit because of impending race. The race restarted but three laps later the caution was out for weather. It was a complete wash and Logano entered his name in the record books. Prior to that race, Logano's best finish was ninth in his first 19 starts and he had only led 25 laps in his career.
Bobby Labonte's final career Cup victory should have been Bill Elliott's final career Cup victory. Elliott had won the race prior at Rockingham and Elliott was looking to close out the 2003 season and his full-time Cup career with consecutive victories. Elliott led 189 laps at Homestead, but he had a tire failure on the final lap exiting turn two. Labonte shot through and took the victory. It was the only lap Labonte led.
NASCAR aside, what about IndyCar?
It is arguable Josef Newgarden stole the Texas race this year with his last lap pass on Scott McLaughlin. Newgarden did have to run down McLaughlin and made a bold move to the outside of turn four. McLaughlin didn't give it away, nor did an unfortunate set of circumstances lead to Newgarden winning, but it didn't look like it was going to be Newgarden's day until the final set of corners.
A real steal is Carlos Huertas. The Colombian driver was making his ninth IndyCar start in the first race of the Houston doubleheader in 2014. Rain made it a timed race and Dale Coyne Racing ran a strategy to get to the end of the two-hour window. As the rest of the field made pit stops, Huertas inherited the lead. Late cautions meant Huertas stayed first and with fewer laps being run, it meant Huertas had a shot of victory with a late restart coming.
The race was going restart in the final minutes, and it looked like two laps were possible. Huertas was low on fuel, and it would be close if he could make it, but before the green flag could even be displayed, Graham Rahal ran over Tony Kanaan coming to the restart. With the cars spun out on course, the race remained caution. But as the track was being cleared, time ran out. Huertas won the race leading a Colombian sweep of the podium ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya and Carlos Muñoz. It should be noted that after the race, Huertas and Dale Coyne Racing were found to have won with an illegally large fuel tank and an illegal rear wing. The victory still stands.
Later that season, Tony Kanaan was dominating the Iowa race. He was approaching 250 laps led when a late caution came out for an accident between Juan Pablo Montoya and Ed Carpenter. The race was going to restart with about ten laps to go. A few teams at the back took on new tires and were hoping to pull something out.
Little did we realize the advantage new tires would be. The race restarted and with each lap Ryan Hunter-Reay and Josef Newgarden made up positions. Neither driver had been in the discussion all night. Kanaan and his Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon had been 1-2 practically all race. It became clear Hunter-Reay and Newgarden would get ahead of the Ganassi drivers. With two laps to go, Hunter-Reay overtook and led his first lap of the night. Hunter-Reay's second lap was the checkered flag, and he took an unexpected victory with Newgarden in second.
There are a few sour, but still stolen victories in IndyCar. Does Surfers Paradise 2002 come to mind? Terrible rainstorms led to near impassable conditions. The race still started and Adrián Fernández and Tora Takagi were both injured in an accident. The race did go green on lap three, but it only lasted until lap ten due to the weather. For 30 laps, the field was behind the safety car, but the weather never improved. Cars had to make pit stops because they had burn through so much fuel under caution.
Mario Domínguez took the lead on lap 37, the fifth lead change under caution. Four laps later, the race was due to the weather and dwindling daylight. It was Domínguez's 17th career start and his first career victory despite starting 18th. Prior to that weekend, his best career finish was eighth.
The Indianapolis 500 has a few stolen winners, and it starts with the second ever race. Ralph DePalma thrashed the field. The Italian-born driver blew the doors off the field and DePalma's Mercedes had a five-and-a-lap lead at the start of lap 197 of 200. Then the car started to fail DePalma. It misfired and stopped on course with a lap and a half to go.
For over ten minutes, DePalma led the race while pushing the car on the circuit. Eventually, Joe Dawson overtook DePalma and won the race in the #4 National, over ten minutes clear of Teddy Tetzlaff.
Ninety-nine years later, Indianapolis again had an unexpected driver take victory, albeit in quicker time than Dawson. The cautions fell in the 2011 race where some teams decided to stretch fuel over the final 40 laps. Others were hoping for another caution and felt stopping under the lap 158 caution for the Townsend Bell-Ryan Briscoe would not get them to the end.
Over the next 20 laps, the leaders made their final pit stops as scheduled, but other cars took the lead. Danica Patrick took the lead but never had enough to make it. Bertrand Baguette took the lead and was saving fuel, but it was clear the Belgian would fall a few laps short. He stopped with three laps to go.
J.R. Hildebrand took over the lead and he had enough to make it and no pressure from behind. At the start of the final lap, second place was not in his mirrors. It looked as if Hildebrand could run out of fuel exiting the final corner and could still coast to victory.
The race to the line was not between a car out of fuel and one charging at full bore. Hildebrand got wide in turn four and into the marbles, his car smacked the barrier and slid down the wall toward the finish line. With all the pit stops, no one was sure who was second place, but then it was picked up. It was Dan Wheldon and Hildebrand was not far enough ahead to skid to victory. Wheldon swept through and beat Hildebrand to the line by 2.1086 seconds. Wheldon only led the final lap, the fewest laps led for an Indianapolis 500 winner.
These were just in North America, but they happen everywhere. There is a recent 24 Hours of Le Mans and a Belgian Grand Prix that has happened within the last calendar year that deserve a mention. Maybe we can look at international thefts at a later date, but they happen, they happen in the biggest races, and no one is above them. We will see a few more this year in all likelihood. Some will stick in our minds. Others will quickly be forgotten.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Joe Roberts and Max Verstappen, but did you know...
Fabio Quartararo won MotoGP's Portuguese Grand Prix. Sergio García won the Moto3 race, his second victory of the season.
Ross Chastain won the NASCAR Cup race from Talladega, his second victory of the season. Noah Gragson won the Grand National Series race.
Nobuharu Matsushita won the Super Formula race from Suzuka, his first career Super Formula victory.
Kalle Rovanperä won Rally Croatia, his second victory of the season.
Jonathan Rea won the first two World Superbike races from Assen, but he retired in the final race and Álvaro Bautista won the third race to retain the championship lead. Dominique Aegerter swept the World Supersport races.
Jason Anderson won the Supercross race from Foxborough, his fifth victory of the season.
Coming Up This Weekend
IndyCar reaches the quarter-post of its season at Barber Motorsports Park.
MotoGP completes its first back-to-back of the season with the Spanish Grand Prix from Jerez.
A week after MotoGP was at Portimão, the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters open its 2022 season there.
IMSA moves North to Laguna Seca.
NASCAR moves North to Dover.
Formula E is in Monaco.
Supercars head to Perth.
The GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup has its opening round at Brands Hatch.
