LEEDS, Ala. -- The Izod IndyCar Series would greatly benefit if two of Andretti Autosport's drivers could find a way to win a race.
One of them looks like he is ready to deliver.
While Danica Patrick struggled to a 19th-place finish in the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, her AA teammate Marco Andretti led 58 of 90 laps at Barber Motorsports Park. And while the 23-year-old Pennsylvanian ultimately finished only fifth after making a late splash-and-go pit stop, he served notice -- and not for the first time in 2010 -- that his next IndyCar race win is going to happen sooner rather than later.
He's in his fifth year of racing Indy cars, but Sunday at Barber was perhaps Marco's most impressive performance to date. It certainly drew words of praise from his competitors.
"I thought he drove a great race and did a bloody good job," observed defending series champion Dario Franchitti.
"On a track where it's so difficult to pass, he did a great job -- a hell of a job," chipped in Scott Dixon.
After some of the challenging time he's encountered since claiming his first (and only) IndyCar win at Infineon Raceway back in August 2006, leading a ton of laps and notching a fifth-place finish could have seemed like a victory for Andretti, his father, team owner Michael Andretti, and strategist Kyle Moyer. Marco was still pretty glum in the aftermath, but he wasn't pouting or complaining.
"We have to be happy to put this thing in the top five after our disaster on road courses last year," Andretti said. "We'll just keep marching forward. The four of us are working together to improve these race cars. We're still a little bit off as far as pace goes. Here I was looking a bit stronger than maybe anywhere else just because it's tough to overtake. So it was easier for me to control the race.
"The good thing was when we needed to push, we could," he continued. "The car was giving it to me. We were just kind of conserving the front tires and conserving fuel. I'm yet to doubt myself. We need to just keep working on the car to make it easier on us."
Andretti certainly caught Castroneves by surprise when he barged past on a Lap 17 restart. But following instead of leading caused Team Penske to change Helio's strategy and ultimately won him the race.
"Marco did a good job in passing me," Castroneves said. "In fact, he kind of like pushed me away. And he was driving like he was more patient this time. His driving reminded me of his father, Michael Andretti. He did a hell of a job.
"I felt like I had a better car than Marco, but unfortunately, I just couldn't pass him. And I was just patient and waiting for an opportunity, and, well, I guess we were able to be smart enough to save a lot of fuel."
Andretti eventually started saving fuel, but it was too late to allow him to commit to a two-pit-stop strategy. Moyer accepted the responsibility for not recognizing early enough that Barber was developing into a fuel race.
"We were good enough to win," Moyer said. "But that one you can blame on me. We should have been saving fuel after we stayed out on the first yellow. Everybody else did and we didn't. That's my mistake. He was doing exactly what he was told.
"We should have won this one."
Once again showing signs he is maturing, Andretti refused to blame Moyer -- or anyone else at Andretti Autosport.
"Each time, Helio just went longer than me and longer than me, and that was the difference after the last stop," Marco explained. "We fell a bit short. It would have been close with that last yellow, so I'm a little disappointed."
In 2009, the Andretti Autosport team suffered through its least competitive championship campaign in its eight years in the IndyCar Series. Based on circumstantial evidence from the first three races of 2010, it looks like the team is on the way back. Andretti has been consistently the quickest of the AA foursome; Tony Kanaan scored his first podium of the season, and Ryan Hunter-Reay had a second-place run in the season opener at Brazil.
The only AA driver not regularly running near the front is Patrick, who has struggled mightily in the sequence of road races that open this year's IndyCar title tilt.
Moyer, who has held key management roles with Andretti Autosport and its former iterations since the team started out at Forsythe/Green Racing in 1994, is convinced that AA in general -- and Marco in particular -- is ready to mix it up with the dominant Penske and Ganassi teams.
"The one good thing about this is the team is working together well and Marco is driving great," Moyer said. "We saw that last race and we saw it again today.
"Now it's just time for us to get our stuff together and get something happening."
