Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS - On a Sunday when Toyota engines dominated, Sam Hornish Jr. had his Chevrolet-powered Panther Racing No. 4 car on the lead lap in the final stages of the 87th Indianapolis 500.

The two-time Indy Racing League series champion was defying three weeks of criticism that Chevrolet couldn't keep up with Toyota or Honda horsepower.

Then his engine blew five laps from the finish.

Hornish was running sixth. When the smoke cleared, he finished 15th. He has yet to go the distance in four 500 starts.

"Maybe, eventually, one of these days I'll get there," he said. "I just wish I could have a good race here. I did everything I could. For once, it wasn't my fault."

An eager Hornish blamed himself for the previous three runs at his favorite track, each shortened by a mishap. His best finish at the Speedway is 14th in 2001.

When his engine sputtered, the 23-year-old Ohioan said he thought to himself, "Well, at least it did it now instead of lap three."

Toyota, in its first Speedway showing, claimed six of the top seven spots, including the victory with Penske Racing's Gil de Ferran. Penske teammate Helio Castroneves was second, Ganassi Racing's Tomas Scheckter fourth and Mo Nunn Racing rookie Tora Takagi fifth. The Kelley Racing duo of rookie Tony Renna and Al Unser Jr. were sixth and ninth.

Honda had to settle for Andretti Green Racing's Tony Kanaan in third, Access Motorsports' Greg Ray in eighth and Fernandez Racing rookie Roger Yasukawa in 10th.

A Chevrolet didn't crack the final top 10. The best finish was Cheever Racing rookie Buddy Rice in 11th. "We were getting what we could out of it," Hornish said. "We only had one problem in a pit stop and that was because I ran into a wheel coming in."

The engine-failure count for the day was Chevrolet five, Toyota two and Honda one.