Circuit: Infineon Raceway (2.26-mile road course) Sonoma, Calif.
2005 Winner: Tony Kanaan (Honda) 91.040 mph average
Weather: Sunny, breezy, mild, 79 degrees F
Top 10 Race Results:
| Ps. | St. | Driver | Team | Engine/Chassis | Laps | Average Speed/Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Green Racing | Honda Dallara | 80 | 93.486 mph average speed |
| 2 | 5 | Dario Franchitti | Andretti Green Racing | Honda Dallara | 80 | - 0.655 seconds |
| 3 | 8 | Vitor Meira | Panther Racing | Honda Dallara | 80 | -10.635 seconds |
| 4 | 1 | Scott Dixon | Target Chip Ganassi | Honda Panoz | 80 | -11.186 seconds |
| 5 | 3 | Helio Castroneves | Team Penske | Honda Dallara | 80 | -12.504 seconds |
| 6 | 6 | Dan Wheldon | Target Chip Ganassi | Honda Panoz | 80 | -13.449 seconds |
| 7 | 14 | Jeff Simmons | Rahal Letterman Racing | Honda Panoz | 80 | -13.875 seconds |
| 8 | 11 | Danica Patrick |
Rahal Letterman Racing | Honda Panoz | 80 | -15.741 seconds |
| 9 | 10 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Team Penske | Honda Dallara | 80 | -16.336 seconds |
| 10 | 9 | Bryan Herta |
Andretti Green Racing | Honda Dallara | 80 | -18.557 seconds |
Marco Makes His Mark at Infineon Raceway
Marco Andretti saved fuel when he could, and ran hard when he needed in winning the Infineon Indy Grand Prix Sunday in Sonoma, California. His achievement made Andretti the youngest race winner in major American open-wheel racing history for Andretti Green Racing, and secured series Rookie of the Year honors.
It was likewise a excellent event for Honda and the HI6R Indy V-8 engine, with 18 drivers and teams logging more than 5,873 miles during the three-day race weekend without a single reported failure.
Starting on the outside of the front row, Andretti raced second to pole qualifier Scott Dixon for much of the first half of the 80-lap contest on the hilly, twisting road course located approximately 40 miles north of San Francisco. Then, during a caution period on Lap 45, Andretti's Kyle Moyer-led AGR team elected to make an out-of-sequence pit stop, and run the rest of the day on a single tank of fuel. Andretti rejoined in eighth place, conserved fuel until the other leading contenders made their final pit stops, then raced home ahead of teammate Dario Franchitti for the win.
At 19 years, 5 months and 14 days, Andretti broke the record for youngest IndyCar-style race winner by one year and five months. The mark was previously held by Scott Dixon when he won a CART Champ Car race at Nazareth Speedway in 2001 at 20 years, 5 months and 14 days. Andretti also is the first new IndyCar Series race winner since Adrian Fernandez won for Honda and his own team at Kentucky Speedway in 2004.
With more fuel at his disposal, Franchitti charged hard in the final laps, but came up six-tenths of a second short for his best finish of the 2006 season. Vitor Meira was third, his sixth top-three result this year, while Dixon's effort was blunted by a long final pit stop when his Target Chip Ganassi crew had problems changing the left front tire. He finished fourth. Helio Castroneves took over a the championship points lead with a fifth place run, followed by defending series champion Dan Wheldon in sixth.
With just the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway oval remaining in the season, Castroneves has moved back into the series championship lead by just a single point over teammate Sam Hornish Jr. Defending series champion Wheldon is third, 19 points behind, with his teammate Dixon just two more points further back in fourth.
The championship will be decided among these four final contenders at the Chicagoland Indy 300 on Sunday, September 10.
IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship (after 13 of 14 races)
| 1. Helio Castroneves | 441 points (4 wins) | 6. Tony Kanaan | (1 win) 358 |
| 2. Sam Hornish Jr. | 440 (4 wins) | 7. Marco Andretti | (1 win) 313 |
| 3. Dan Wheldon | 422 (1 win) | 8. Dario Franchitti | 311 |
| 4. Scott Dixon | 420 (2 wins) | 9. Danica Patrick | 284 |
| 5. Vitor Meira | 383 | 10. Tomas Scheckter | 278 |
Rookie of the Year:
| 1. Marco Andretti | 313 points (clinches Rookie of the Year) |
| 2. Jeff Simmons | 193 |
| 3. P.J. Chesson | 54 |
Marco Andretti (#26 NYSE Andretti Green Racing Honda) Started 2nd, finished 1st, his 1st IndyCar race win:
"My guys are the best in the business, and they gave me an awesome [race] strategy today. It was a great job by the entire NYSE crew, and the car was consistent all afternoon. I knew that Dario [Franchitti] is normally the king of saving fuel. After he got by Tony [Kanaan] I knew it definitely wasn't over, and he would push me hard during the final laps. I had to run some pretty fast laps at the end, but we just needed to stay consistent, save the tires and fuel, and it all worked out."
Robert Clarke (President, Honda Performance Development) on Honda peformance in today's race:
"Road course races put a lot of demands on the engine, with both acceleration and deceleration forces, as well as the loads placed on the drive train during shifting. Yet the Honda engines once again performed perfectly this weekend, without a single failure through three days of practice, qualifying and racing. In addition, the fuel mileage was excellent, as Marco [Andretti] was able to run the final 35 laps - almost 80 miles - on a single load of fuel. Congratulations to him on an exciting inaugural victory, and to the entire Andretti Green organization."
