It was a hectic Sunday morning due to the many errands I had to take care of. I also needed to make sure my comrades were not going to bail on me on this trip. I knew this was a concern because of my many previous visits to race day events. And as I anticipated, they bailed at the last minute. But that’s never stopped this one man wolf pack from having a good time.

So I got a late start from Louisville, (One hour and 14 minutes before green flag to be precise), but I made good time for what a four cylinder, unaerodynamic, Jeep Wrangler can do. I also knew that the traffic situation would be nothing compared to the disaster that was the inaugural Nascar race at the speedway. I would think this is because people seem to be less interested in Indy car racing. I can’t seem to figure out why people are less interested, the cars go faster and make louder noises!

I pulled into the general admission parking lot, walked to the ticket booth to pick up my ticket, went to the bathroom, got a drink and went to my seat. The second I got sat in my seat, that green flag was being waved. I patted myself on the back for being good at what I do, impeccably timing things.

I assume many of my readers have never been to Kentucky Speedway and this picture doesn’t quite seem to do justice, yet I feel that it goes unbeknownst that the track is surrounded by some of the most beautifully rolling hills in the Bluegrass state. All this aesthetic pleasure quickly diminishes as the smell of burning rubber, sounds of 200+ mph engines, and the feeling of flying debris sticking to your face quickly engulfs you into the race.

Something also tells me that many of my readers haven’t played Super Mario Kart in years and have forgotten how racing circuits work. You see, the drivers accumulate points in descending order based on the position they finish in a race. After the season is over, the driver with the most points wins the circuit.

Here’s where the beauty lies, Kentucky Speedway is the 2nd-to-last track on the IndyCar series circuit. So it is theoretical that the circuit winner could be determined in Kentucky.

Going into this race it was looking like the circuit champion was going to be crowned here as circuit points leader Will Power needed to finish just a few positions in front of 2nd in points rankings, Dario Franchitti. Somewhere around lap 64, I was starting to think this was the most likely outcome as Power was inching closer and closer to lapping Franchitti who was about 10 positions behind.

Around lap 100, there was a yellow flag and I ran to the bathroom. I returned to see that Power was no longer even on the pole. WTF?!? I asked myself. Apparently something in his car went terribly wrong and he was now running close to last. Even more surprisingly, Franchitti had squeezed his way to first.

The positions remained similar to this until lap 175~ish when Hoosier Ed Carpenter managed to ride up next to Franchitti and produce the most amazing final 25 laps I had ever seen. Each lap the leader swapped back and forth by no more than a foot.

Final Turn, Final Lap of the Kentucky Indy 300

Finally, we reached the last lap and Carpenter had just enough give to pass Franchitti on the final turn and take the victory by 98/10,000 of a second ensuring the need for a race at Las Vegas in two weeks. I was sad that the champ wasn’t crowned today, but with such an exciting finish I was not disappointed!