Helio Castroneves Posts Third Indy 500 Win

Most of the tax evasion charges against Helio Castoneves (now the Indy 500 winner) were thrown out 5 1/2 weeks ago, and the remaining count was thrown out on Friday. His win today capped a great week for him.

Helio Castroneves pulled away over the final laps to beat Dan Wheldon and Danica Patrick. Wheldon and Patrick dueled for second, giving Castroneves his change. By finishing third Patrick eclipsed her historic fourth-place finish as a rookie in 2005. Patrick additionally scored the highest finish for any woman at the Indy 500, while Sarah Fisher and Milka Duno finished 17th and 20th respectively.

It was an emotional race for Helio Castroneves, who said the following in the Winner's Circle:

"I think my tears speak for everything. I have to thank the Lord for giving me this opportunity. And I have to thank my team because they gave me my life back. And to the fans, you guys kept me strong. You are the best. I'm honored to have fans like you. Let's celebrate now -- yeah, baby!!!"

Helio Castroneves completed a clean sweep of all the major prizes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this year. He won the pole position on May 9 and then came back last Friday to win the annual Indy 500 Pit Stop Competition.

Below are the final results of this year's Indy 500:

1. (1) Helio Castroneves, 200 laps.
2. (18) Dan Wheldon, 200.
3. (10) Danica Patrick, 200.
4. (24) Townsend Bell, 200.
5. (9) Will Power, 200.
6. (5) Scott Dixon, 200.
7. (3) Dario Franchitti, 200.
8. (17) Ed Carpenter, 200.
9. (13) Paul Tracy, 200.
10. (16) Hideki Mutoh, 200.
11. (33) Alex Tagliani, 200.
12. (26) Tomas Scheckter, 200.
13. (11) Alex Lloyd, 200.
14. (20) Scott Sharp, 200.
15. (2) Ryan Briscoe, 200.
16. (19) A.J. Foyt IV, 200.
17. (21) Sarah Fisher, 200.
18. (27) Mike Conway, 200.
19. (28) John Andretti, 200.
20. (30) Milka Duno, 199.
21. (14) Vitor Meira, 173, contact.
22. (12) Raphael Matos, 173, contact.
23. (15) Justin Wilson, 160, contact.
24. (29) E.J. Viso, 139, mechanical.
25. (31) Nelson Philippe, 130, contact.
26. (25) Oriol Servia, 98, mechanical.
27. (6) Tony Kanaan, 97, contact.
28. (23) Robert Doornbos, 85, contact.
29. (22) Davey Hamilton, 79, contact.
30. (8) Marco Andretti, 56, handling.
31. (4) Graham Rahal, 55, contact.
32. (32) Ryan Hunter-Reay, 19, contact.
33. (7) Mario Moraes, 0, contact.