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Dean Stoneman Takes Indy Lights Win at Indianapolis

There have been some close finishes in the storied history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but the Indy Lights series has taken “close” to a whole new level.

In 2013 the four-wide run to the finish ended with .0024 between first and second. The next year it was .005 difference between the top pair. Saturday, the gap between the winner Dean Stoneman and the runner-up Ed Jones was a mere .0024.

Not counting 2015, which ended under caution, the last three Indy Lights races at Indianapolis have been decided by a TOTAL of .01 seconds.

Jones started on the pole and led the first nine laps of the race, which included four caution laps thanks to contact for the Kyle Kaiser ride in turn 4. Kaiser started in the third position but only completed two laps before his day unceremoniously came to an end.

Stoneman moved forward quickly from his fifth place starting position and took the lead from Jones on lap 10. Urrutia Santiago spun in turn two on lap 29 thanks to a mechanical failure, which brought out the third caution of the race. Stoneman held onto the lead on the restart from that caution and hoped to cruise to the win, but Heamin Choi spun off course on lap 35 to bring out the fourth and final caution.

The result of the caution and cleanup was a two-lap sprint to the finish. As the field went back to green, Jones beat Stoneman to the line to claim the lead on lap 39. The lead pair entered turn three side-by-side heading to the checkered flag. They raced wheel-to-wheel all of the way to the yard of bricks. When the checkers flew over the pair they were separated by .0024 second. Dalton Kellett came home in third over a second behind the lead duo. Shelby Blackstock finished in the fourth position while Scott Hargrove rounded out the top 5. The 100 mile race was completed in 41:08 for an average speed of 145.830 mph. There were three lead changes and four cautions for a total of 10 laps.

Results

  1. 27 Dean Stoneman
  2. 11 Ed Jones
  3. 28 Dalton Kellett
  4. 51 Shelby Blackstock
  5. 3 Scott Hargrove
  6. 4 Felix Serralles
  7. 22 Neil Alberico
  8. 2 Juan Piedrahita
  9. 14 Felix Rosenqvist
  10. 5 Zach Veach
  11. 7 RC Enerson
  12. 77 Heamin Choi
  13. 13 Zachary Claman De Melo
  14. 55 Santiago Urrutia
  15. 17 Andre Negrao
  16. 18 Kyle Kaiser

About the author

Frontstretch.com

What is it that Mike Neff doesn’t do? The writer, radio contributor and racetrack announcer coordinates the site’s local short track coverage, hitting up Saturday Night Specials across the country while tracking the sport’s future racing stars. The writer for our signature Cup post-race column, Thinkin’ Out Loud (Mondays) also sits down with Cup crew chiefs to talk shop every Friday with Tech Talk. Mike announces several shows each year for the Good Guys Rod and Custom Association. He also pops up everywhere from PRN Pit Reporters and the Press Box with Alan Smothers to SIRIUS XM Radio. He has announced at tracks all over the Southeast, starting at Millbridge Speedway. He's also announced at East Lincoln Speedway, Concord Speedway, Tri-County Speedway, Caraway Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.

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