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IndyCar: 2009 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg video

The 2009 season started with polesitter Graham Rahal making contact with Tony Kanaan, dropping both down the order. Later in the race, defending champion Scott Dixon crashed out while battling Hideki Mutoh, which released the Safety Car. After the restart, with 14 laps to go, Ryan Briscoe took the lead from Justin Wilson and held off a combative Ryan Hunter-Reay to the flag.

Round 1 of the 2009 IndyCar season

Circuit: St Petersburg

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IndyCar: 2009 Grand Prix of Long Beach video

After a disappointing year at NASCAR Dario Franchitti returned to Victory Lane at Long Beach, in a thrilling race which saw many different strategies because of the many yellow flag periods. On the last one of those, Franchitti stayed out and managed to build a big enough gap to snatch his first win since 2007.

Round 2 of the 2009 IndyCar season

Circuit: Long Beach

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IndyCar: 2009 Kansas Indy 300 video

After a tough start to 2009, defending IndyCar Series Champion Scott Dixon responded at Kansas Speedway, taking command over the last 20 laps to win over Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan. Dixon stayed on the lead for 134 over the 200-laps race after starting in 4th position, in a challenging weekend in terms of weather, with constants threats of rain. Castroneves was lucky to finish second, after contact with Vitor Meira meant a trip to the Penske garage to fix both wings.

Round 3 of the 2009 IndyCar season

Circuit: Kansas Speedway

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IndyCar: 2009 Indianapolis 500 video

Helio Castroneves won America’s greatest race for a third time from pole position, after a race-long battle with Dan Wheldon and Danica Patrick. The brazilian had to recover from bad restarts early in the race which dropped him down the order, but managed to finally regain the lead in the last quarter of the race, holding on the lead at the final restart with 20 laps to go, to win by 1.9 seconds over Wheldon, with Patrick close in 3rd.

Round 4 of the 2009 IndyCar season

Circuit: Indianapolis

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IndyCar: 2009 AJ Foyt 225 video

Polesitter Ryan Briscoe overcame a bad start to pass Tony Kanaan and Graham Rahal to lead. He led until lap 200, when Scott Dixon took advantage of backmarker Tomas Scheckter to pass him on the inside of Turn 2. Dixon went on to win ahead of Briscoe and Dario Franchitti.

Round 5 of the 2009 IndyCar season

Circuit: Milwaukee Mile

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IndyCar: 2009 Texas 550 video

A quicker final stop for Castroneves got him ahead of polesitter Ryan Briscoe after AJ Foyt IV crashed late in the race which brought the yellow flags. Castroneves held off Briscoe for the win, with Scott Dixon, Andretti and Franchitti completing the top 5.

Round 6 of the 2009 IndyCar season

Circuit: Texas Motor Speedway

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IndyCar: 2009 Iowa 250 video

Franchitti repeated his 2007 win at Iowa running near the front for the first two-thirds of the race, and jumping the leaders after the final visit to the pits, carving through traffic to distance himself from Briscoe and establish a comfortable five-second gap at the finish. Briscoe scored his third second place finish in a row, while Hideki Mutoh was the best Andretti Racing Green in third place.

Round 7 of the 2009 IndyCar season

Circuit: Iowa Speedway

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IndyCar: 2009 Indy Challenge video

Dario Franchitti’s problems allowed Scott Dixon to score his third win of the season. The briton had been leading comfortably from pole position in the first half of the race, only to be delayed by a yellow flag just as he was entering the pits. As he was low on fuel, he had to stop for a splash of ethanol before pitting once again for more fuel and tyres. His team mate, then, had an untroubled run to the checkered flag.

Round 8 of the 2009 IndyCar season

Circuit: Richmond

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IndyCar: 2009 Grand Prix at the Glen video

Justin Wilson dominated most of the event, en route to victory, the first-ever Indy car win for Dale Coyne Racing. Late in the race, Wilson was carrying the optional red tires. A late-race caution bunched the field for a sprint to the finish. Wilson got the jump on the restart, and pulled out to over a 4-second lead to preserve the win. It was the first race all season, and the first since the 2008 Detroit event, which saw neither Ganassi nor Penske in victory lane.

Round 9 of the 2009 IndyCar season

Circuit: Watkins Glen

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IndyCar: 2009 Indy Toronto video

It wasn’t as straightforward as he would’ve hoped, but the Toronto saw Dario Franchitti clinch his third win of the season and with that, he returned to the top position in the championship. He had to recover from a problematic stop when a wheel got stuck during his first visit to the pits, but a lucky yellow flag period allowed him to return to second place and then overtake Helio Castroneves, who crashed shortly after, for the lead.

Round 10 of the 2009 IndyCar season

Circuit: Toronto