Ed Carpenter: The Best Story You Missed This Sunday

While most of the sports world had its sight set on NFL Football, the Major League Baseball playoffs or the NASCAR race at Dover International Speedway, the most heartwarming story of the day was taking place in the hills of Northern Kentucky.

Ed Carpenter captured his first victory of his Izod IndyCar Series career after failing in his first 112 attempts, battling three-time Izod IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti wheel-to-wheel over the final 20 laps, edging Franchitti at the finish line by .0098 of a second. It was a sweet reversal of fortune for Carpenter, who had lost a race at Kentucky two years ago to Ryan Briscoe by .016 of a second.

The David vs. Goliath storyline gets rehashed a lot, but it really does apply in this case. Carpenter drives for Sarah Fisher Racing, a part-time team running on limited sponsorship that found out this week that its primary sponsor, Dollar General, will not be returning next season. Today was Sarah Fisher's first win as an owner or a driver, and it comes just two weeks after the birth of her first child, Zoey.

Franchitti drives for mega-owner Chip Ganassi, who fields four IndyCar teams, two NASCAR teams and a dominant sportscar team.  Ganassi has won eight open-wheel series titles, three Indianapolis 500s, the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400. Franchitti's car seems to have a different paint scheme every race, so many sponsors want to be associated with him. He's also married to Ashley Judd. 

It hasn't been an easy road for Carpenter, despite being the stepson of former Indianapolis Motor Speedway CEO Tony George. Carpenter had early success in the Infiniti Pro Series (now the Firestone Indy Lights series), finishing third in series points in 2002 and winning the inaugural Freedom 100 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2003.

However, success hadn't followed him to the IndyCar Series. After struggling in his rookie season with Red Bull Team Cheever in 2004, Carpenter went to drive for his stepfather's team, Vision Racing. in 2005. In five seasons with Vision, Carpenter only managed four top-five finishes. But things were looking up at the close of 2009, as Carpenter finished a career-best 12th in the season-ending points, as well as his career-best second-place finish to Briscoe.

Because of the economic times, Vision Racing was forced to close shop prior to the 2010 season, leaving Carpenter out of a full-time ride. Carpenter only competed in four races in 2010, but showed he could still be competitive on super-speedways, qualifying in the top nine at the Indy 500 and finishing second once again at Kentucky, losing the race on fuel strategy to Helio Castroneves.

It wasn't easy today, either. Carpenter's day could have been ruined twice prior to his duel with Franchitti. During a battle with J.R. Hildebrand, Carpenter's and Hildebrand's cars made contact entering Turn 1, but both cars maintained control.  A few laps later, Carpenter's helmet visor started to become unbolted, causing Carpenter to drive 20 laps with one hand on the wheel while his left hand held his visor on.  Carpenter's pit crew was able to tape it down during a pit shop on a caution.

With the problems of the day solved, Carpenter was able to keep pace with Franchitti on the outside line, forcing Franchitti to use up his allotted overtake boosts to prevent Carpenter from passing him. Carpenter had one overtake remaining on the last lap and used it to edge ahead for the victory that was popular with the fans and other teams alike.

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/876010-ed-carpenter-the-best-story-you-missed-this-sunday

Mark Cullen Baltimore Orioles Boston Red Sox Chicago White Sox Cleveland Indians Detroit Tigers