Dan overcomes Danica

INDIANAPOLIS -- More than 250,000 spectators watched as Danica Patrick tried to become the first female driver to win the Indianapolis 500. Patrick almost made history, but her fuel and pit troubles proved too much as Dan Wheldon overcame Patrick down the stretch to win.\n"This has been a dream come true for me," Wheldon said. "I've loved the Indianapolis 500 ever since I was a little kid in England."\nAfter stalling in her pit on lap 79, Patrick had trouble during the fifth caution of the day as she did a quarter-spin on the restart, continuing the caution and causing damage to the front of her car. Patrick was forced to pit on lap 159, but wouldn't again for the duration of the race. Despite all this, Patrick grabbed the lead on lap 172, her second lead of the day, and held it for 14 laps. Patrick first took the lead on lap 56, becoming the first female driver ever to lead an Indianapolis 500.\nBut as lap 187 started, caution broke and Wheldon grabbed the lead, trying to become the first Englishman to win the Indy 500 since Graham Hill in 1966. Once the caution lap ended on the 189, the crowd rose to its feet as Patrick quickly re-took the lead by going on the inside on lap 190. \n"My engineer Ray told me that I needed to have the restart of the century," she said. "I think we had it. It was pretty good."\nFor three laps the crowd anxiously waited to see if history would be made. But Wheldon had other ideas. After three laps of chasing Patrick's tail, Wheldon captured the lead for good just before the start/finish line on lap 194. Patrick had to settle for fourth as she finished on fumes. \n"I knew I could pass her, but it was just a case of timing," Wheldon said. "And having done it once, she was obviously aware of where I was good and where I was not. So she made it a little bit more difficult. But certainly the guys in my car gave me a car that was at its best right at the end of the race, and I needed every bit of that to win this race."\nIn the process of winning the Borg-Warner trophy, Wheldon also became the first driver ever to win with the No. 26 car and to win starting from the No. 16 spot.\nThough the victory milk belonged to Wheldon, much of the race was Sam Hornish Jr.'s. Hornish Jr. started the race second but quickly jumped to first, passing pole sitter Tony Kanann in turn three. Hornish Jr. led the most laps of the race with 70. But his day ended on lap 147 as the right side of his car collided with the wall in turn one. \nWhile Wheldon walked away the winner, Vitor Meira and Bryan Herta rounded out the top three. Meira managed to finish second despite a hand injury suffered in the race. Buddy Lazier finished fifth behind Patrick.\nOn the day there were eight cautions which knocked out more than half the field of 33. The race ended with only 16 drivers still on the track, and of those, only nine were on the lead lap. The final caution of the day signaled the end of the race as Sebastian Bourdais crashed as the white flag came, giving Wheldon the Indy 500 title under yellow.\nWhile Patrick sat with mixed emotions after the race, the same couldn't be said of Wheldon's team, Andretti Green Racing, which includes Michael Andretti as a co-owner. After going his entire racing career without a win at the Indy 500, getting one as co-owner proved just as sweet, he said after the race.\n"I never tasted milk so good. It's awesome," Andretti said. "I finally won the Indy 500. Oh yeah. No more curse."\nDespite the possible significance of Patrick holding the lead and finishing in the top five, she was more concerned about not winning in her rookie try than the possible significance her performance had, she said.\n"I didn't even think all that media stuff going on was that… overwhelming," she said. "It was frustrating to be leading the race with so few laps to go and not be able to finish hard and just hang out up front and win the thing"