FanHouse MarcoAndretti

INDIANAPOLIS -- The 93rd running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing lived up to the billing on Sunday with wild action (eight caution periods), a historic finish (Danica Patrick's third place) and a popular victory (Helio Castroneves' third Indy win).

Here's a look at some other storylines from Sunday's Indianapolis 500:

---

---

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has kicked off its 100th birthday celebration with the closest Indy 500 starting field in history, the largest crowd in recent memory and a vibe reminiscent of the race's heyday.

Even NASCAR's "King" Richard Petty will be trackside today as Jim Nabors sings "Back Home Again in Indiana" -- to wrap up a traditional pre-race show unlike anything in sports.

Sure, the Penske and Ganassi and Andretti Green teams are odds-on favorites to win today's Indianapolis 500. But with the reunification of the two open-wheel series last year, the grid boasts a legitimate 13-14 contenders and has finally put to rest the notion that Indy has lost its competitive edge.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti are here at Homestead Miami Speedway for the first official test session of the IndyCar Series. But it's a possible future in Formula One that keeps coming up.

The F1 buzz is in reaction to the newly-formed USF1 team which was unveiled by owners Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor in Charlotte, N.C. on Tuesday.

Racing series around the world are feeling a growing hole in their wallets thanks to this ol' economy, but that's no matter for a group out of Charlotte, N.C., that's looking to join up with pricey Formula 1.

The upstart -- their taking "USF1" as their working team name -- is aiming to have an American operation field two American drivers in F1 in the near future, and Tuesday, they discussed some drivers -- including a pair of NASCAR names -- they might interested in.

Some of those wheelmen (and a wheel lady, mind you) seem like logical targets, but the others? Well, not so much.

Unlike Saturday's NASCAR Busch Series race, the IRL race at Texas Motor Speedway was nothing to snooze at.

The Bombardier Learjet 550 was complete with on track drama, "the big one," the first win of the season for the reigning champion and a career-high finish for the series' star female driver.

I'll admit I tuned in to see the follow up on the Danica Patrick and Dan Wheldon incident that occurred last week in Milwaukee which had the feisty female wanting to duke it out with her competitor following an on-track incident. Boringly, that story seems to have ended with Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage adding another piece of memorabilia to his office: boxing gloves signed by both drivers.

Things ended up getting exciting anyway, though, on lap 87 when Marco Andretti chopped Tomas Scheckter and sent him sailing across the infield. A very angry Scheckter stormed the track and threw his gloves at Andretti (video link when I find it). And here I thought that kind of stuff only happened in NASCAR.

On lap 197, Scheckter's Vision Racing teammate Anthony Foyt IV lost a tire and caused a multi-car pileup, which took out Wheldon and his Target Chip Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon, who had previously battled for the lead, as well as Helio Castroneves, Darren Manning, Ed Carpenter and Sarah Fisher.

Watch Tony Kanaan glide through the slowing cars and flying parts unscathed:

"I'm not going to brag about it," Kanaan said. "I have no idea how I made it through. It was like 'Days of Thunder.' I kind of closed my eyes and went full throttle and made it through. Sometimes you've got to be lucky."

At the end of the day, Sam Hornish Jr. brought home the win for Penske and Andretti Green Racing finished 2-3-4 with Kanaan, Patrick (career high) and 2007 Indy 500 winder Dario Franchitti.

I was already planning to watch IRL's debut in my home state at Iowa Speedway later this month. Now I'm thinking I might have to consider a trip home to attend the Iowa Corn Indy 250 in person.