INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Marco Andretti earned his first podium finish of the season at Sunday's Indy 500 following an extensive video review that showed three cars illegally passed the 23-year-old under caution in the race's final yards.
The unofficial results showed Andretti finished sixth behind winner Dario Franchitti. He was moved up to third more than two hours after the race when IndyCar officials ruled Alex Lloyd, Scott Dixon and Danica Patrick did not have the right to pass Andretti as the field strolled to the finish.
Alex Lloyd moved down one spot to fourth. Scott Dixon moved from fourth to fifth, and Danica Patrick dropped from fifth to sixth after the league nullified the passes they made after the caution flag came out on Lap 199.
Dale Coyne, who owns Lloyd's car, argued that Andretti's car was not maintaining speed as the field inched down the front stretch toward the finish line. Coyne said his numbers indicated Andretti had run out of gas.
IndyCar president of competition and racing operations Brian Barnhart said Andretti maintained a constant speed of 64 mph all the way to the finish.
"The only way you can pass under caution is if a car is stopped on the track, if they wave you by or they're not maintaining caution speed," Barnhart said.
Barnhart pointed out that the pace car was leading the field at 65 mph, and Andretti kept pace.
"That's fast enough," he said.
Coyne did not file a protest after meeting with Barnhart twice following the race.
"It's still a good day," Coyne said. "We were hoping for a top 10 and a top five would have been a dream. Fourth is nice. Third is really nice because it would have been a podium (finish)."
Officials also flipped the order of 13th and 14th. Mario Romancini moves up one spot to 13th, while Simona de Silvestro falls to 14th.
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