Ryan Hunter-Reay wins IndyCar race at Pocono

LONG POND, Pa. - Whether there will be an IndyCar series race at Pocono Raceway next August significantly depends upon the attendance for yesterday's entertaining race.

The crowd appeared to be similar to two years ago when the first IndyCar race at Pocono since 1989 attracted 20,000 to 25,000. There was no word last night from Pocono officials about whether yesterday's crowd for the ABC Supply 500 was big enough to warrant IndyCar returning. The Pocono crowd clearly was larger than races this year at Milwaukee (about 12,000) and Fontana, Calif. (less than 10,000).

Brandon Igdalsky, Pocono's president and CEO, said before the race a decision will be made as quickly as possible.

Don Carter, a fan from Youngstown, Ohio, attends a lot of IndyCar races. Prior to his first Pocono race Carter said he's hopeful IndyCar is back at Pocono.

"They don't have too many oval tracks [on the schedule]," Carter said. "My theory is, [eventually] they'll have Indy and nowhere else. Some high school football games get bigger crowds than these races."

Ryan Hunter-Reay won in the caution-littered 200-lap race, appropriately under caution. Among the 11 cautions was a yellow flag for the bravest fox in the Poconos crossing the track in Turn 1.

Josef Newgarden was second for a one-two American drivers finish. Points leader Juan Pablo Montoya was third after starting the race 19th. He didn't lead any laps. Heading to the season finale Sunday at Sonoma, Calif., Montoya holds a 34-point lead over Graham Rahal. Sonoma will be a double-points race.

Montoya said his plan for Sonoma is "the same thing as every week: do the best we can, see what happens. It's double points, so it's open for anything. I feel if we run a smart day all day, we'll be fine."

Rahal, only nine points behind Montoya entering the race, was taken out by Tristan Vautier on lap 93. Vautier tried to go low in Turn 3 when Rahal was side-by-side with Justin Wilson. After they climbed out of their wrecked cars Rahal lectured Vautier on the track.

"We know he's not the sharpest guy around here," Rahal said. "He's a part-timer. This one definitely hurts. This puts a big dent in things."

Vautier said, "I felt I deserved a bit of room. I just tried to go down [on] the apron and brake, but it was too late."

All the drivers were advised prior to the race that if they weren't in title contention they should stay out of the way.

Following his second victory of the season in his Honda, Hunter-Reay said he was "happy as could be in the car" as he crossed the finish line under the final caution of the race. "It was one of the best drives of my career," said last year's Indianapolis 500 winner. At the time he had no idea Wilson, his Andretti Autosport teammate, was seriously injured (see related story).

"We kept falling back," said the race leader for 29 laps, including the last five. "We had some issues on the stops. We did just a bunch of stuff. We kept going backwards in the pit stops, kept fighting our way to the front."

Commenting on the quality of the Pocono racing, including a seven-wide formation on the front straightaway on a late-race restart, the 2012 Verizon IndyCar champion said, "I hope the fans enjoyed it. In years past here we've kind of had single-file racing. This was the opposite: it was classic IndyCar oval racing."

Newgarden led the most laps, 47. Polesitter Helio Castroneves paced 24 laps, but crashed in Turn 1 on a restart on lap 167. He finished 16th.

Marco Andretti's streak of being the only IndyCar driver to complete every lap this season ended on lap 139 when he spun and hit the wall. He finished 18th.