LOUDON, N.H. — Ryan Hunter-Reay raced to his first IndyCar Series victory of the year Sunday after a slippery, crash-marred finish that left drivers upset that the race was restarted in the rain with about 10 laps left.
Moments after the race resumed, Danica Patrick’s car slid sideways, starting a chain reaction that knocked out the cars of Will Power and Takuma Sato.
Officials reverted to the race order that existed before the final restart, leaving Oriol Servia in second place and Scott Dixon in third in the 225-mile race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the first IndyCar competition at the track since 1998.
Power, second in the series point standings, was irate as he left his car and flashed an obscene gesture that was caught on camera. But he cut Dario Franchitti’s lead from 63 points to 47 with five races left. Franchitti led for 115 of the 225 laps before being hit from behind by Sato, ending his race on the 119th.
Hunter-Reay then took the lead and held it most of the way for his fifth win in 113 IndyCar races. He came in third in two of his three previous races and has five consecutive top-10 finishes after just one in his other eight.
The driver for Andretti Autosport wished his win “was in a little bit different way, but we’ll absolutely take it after the year we’ve had,” he said. “It was a strange day, but sometimes racing is strange.”
The start of the race was moved up a half hour in hopes of avoiding rain.
The crashes began on the very first lap when Mike Conway spun sideways coming out of Turn 2 and hit Graham Rahal. Both ended up on the grass and their days over. Then, moments after the first restart, Helio Castroneves also spun coming out of Turn 2. He continued after repairs but never was a factor.
The last caution came on the 206th lap because of more moisture on the track. At that point, the top three cars were driven by Hunter-Reay, Servia and Dixon. Then came the final, ill-fated restart that left many drivers upset with the decision by Brian Barnhart, IndyCar’s vice president of competition, to resume racing.
“It was no condition to race in. Shame on him,” Power said.
And Barnhart said he made the wrong call. “It was a mistake on race control’s position,” he said.
