The 2011

Kentucky Indy 300 The Kentucky Indy 300 was an IndyCar Series race held at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky. The IRL IndyCar Series debuted the race in 2000. In the 2002 race, Sarah Fisher won the pole position, the first such by a female driver in major o ...

was the twelfth running of the Kentucky Indy 300 and the seventeenth round of the

2011 IndyCar Series season The 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series was the 16th season of the IndyCar Series and the 100th recognized season of American open-wheel motor racing. The season was sanctioned by IndyCar and was part of the Mazda Road to Indy. The season began in March ...

. It took place on Sunday, October 2, 2011. The race contested over 200 laps at the

Kentucky Speedway Kentucky Speedway is an inactive tri-oval intermediate speedway in Sparta, Kentucky. It has hosted various major races throughout its existence, including NASCAR and IndyCar races. The track is owned by Speedway Motorsports, LLC (SMI) and ...

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. This would ultimately be the last classified race of

Dan Wheldon Daniel Clive Wheldon (22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011) was a British motor racing driver who won the 2005 IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship for Andretti Autosport, Andretti Green Racing (AGR). He won the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 Indianapol ...

's career. In the following race, Wheldon would be involved in a 15-car accident at

Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway (track complex formerly known as Las Vegas Speedway Park from 1993 to 1996, Las Vegas Speedway in 1992, Las Vegas International Speedway from 1990 to 1992, as the Las Vegas International Speedrome from 1972 to 1990) is a ...

, which would claim his life. The race was abandoned, and therefore was not classified as an official race.

Buddy Rice Albert Lee "Buddy" Rice (born January 31, 1976) is an American former race car driver. He is best known for winning the 2004 Indianapolis 500 while driving for Rahal Letterman Racing, and the 2009 24 Hours of Daytona for Brumos Racing. Career E ...

and

Vítor Meira Vítor Meira (born March 27, 1977) is a Brazilian former auto racing driver. He formerly competed in the IndyCar Series and has twice finished second in the Indianapolis 500. IndyCar Series 2002 After participating in an open test for Panthe ...

were also in this and the next race, after which they made no more IndyCar starts, making this the final classified race of their careers as well. This was also the final classified race for

Newman/Haas Racing Newman/Haas Racing was an auto racing team that competed in CART, Champ Car, and the IndyCar Series from 1983 to 2011. The team operations were based in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Newman/Haas Racing was formed as a partnership between actor, automo ...

Grid

Dan Wheldon, whose only race to date in the 2011 IndyCar series had been his win at the Indianapolis 500, replaced

Alex Tagliani Alexandre Tagliani (; born October 18, 1973), nicknamed "Tag", is a Canadian professional racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Canada Series, driving the No. 80 Chevrolet Camaro for Dumoulin Compétition. Tagliani has competed in a ...

in the

Sam Schmidt Motorsports The IndyCar Series operation of McLaren, competing as Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team due to sponsorship, is based in Indianapolis and was founded by former IndyCar driver Sam Schmidt in 2001 as Sam Schmidt Motorsports (SSM). The team operates the N ...

#77 car. † Did not qualify.

Results

Italics indicates the pole sitter Bold indicates the podium

References

{{IndyCar Series race report , Name_of_race =

, Year_of_race = 2011 , Previous_race_in_season = 2011 Indy Japan: The Final , Next_race_in_season =

2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship The 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship Presented by Honda was the scheduled final race of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series. It was to be run at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 16, 2011, and was scheduled for 200 laps around the facility's 1.5 ...

, Previous_year's_race = 2010 Kentucky Indy 300 , Next_year's_race = N/A

Kentucky Indy 300