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Ryan Hunter-Reay outfoxes the field in victory at Pocono

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Triathlon Tales turn to woe with kidney stone

<p>LONG POND - The local favorites, a tandem of Nazareth natives Marco Andretti and Sage Karam, got the loudest cheers from the crowd before Sunday&#8217;s ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway.</p><p>Storybook tales for a home-track victory weren&#8217;t in the cards for either driver. Andretti was the first of the two to crash in the race when he spun his No. 27 Chevrolet in Turn 2 before making contact with the SAFER Barrier. The third-generation IndyCar driver&#8217;s day was done after suffering damage from the wreck.</p><p>&#8220;It just went way too wildly,&#8221; Andretti said of the car. &#8220;That&#8217;s not a normal way for a car to let go, so I think something let go with the car. The angle wasn&#8217;t very nice, but it&#8217;s a tribute to these cars. They&#8217;re definitely strong.&#8221;</p><p>Regardless of the crash on lap 139, the 29-year-old driver enjoyed the racing on the 2.5-mile track.</p><p>&#8220;It was fun,&#8221; he said of the racing. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know what was going on with the restarts. We were like a sitting duck, but once we got going, we were going forward. It took a while to get the center pressure right because we missed practice last night. The car was finally coming alive and we were in the top-10 and it was going to be fun the rest of the way.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;We were taking it very slow. It was a 500-mile race, just bummed for points and for that wreck out there.&#8221;</p><p>The No. 27 Andretti Autosport team began Sunday&#8217;s race behind when smoke billowed out of the machine during Saturday&#8217;s Verizon IndyCar Series final practice. Andretti turned the slowest speed during qualifying at 215.101 mph with the exception of two cars not running an official qualifying run. Andretti started in the 22th position and worked his way up through the field before the accident.</p><p>Starting right in front of the Nazareth native was another guy from his hometown in Sage Karam. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver rolled off from the 20th spot and began the charge towards the front.</p><p>Within the first 20 laps of the event, the 20-year-old driver was up five spots and took the lead for the first time on lap 105. He rode around the top-five for a majority of the race.</p><p>The win for Karam was in grasp while leading with 21 laps to go, but he lost control of his No. 8 Chevrolet in Turn 1 and pounded the wall to end any chances at scoring the home-track victory.</p><p>Karam was transported on ground to the Lehigh Valley Cedar Crest hospital for further evaluation for his right foot.</p><p>With all the debris from Karam&#8217;s car laying on the track, Andretti Autosport driver Justin Wilson took a piece of debris to the head and had to be airlifted to the same hospital. Karam was able to limp away from the crash, but Wilson was in a coma and listed in critical condition Sunday night.</p><p>&#8220;Thoughts and prayers are with him,&#8221; race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay said about Wilson. &#8220;He has a family, just like I do. He&#8217;s a great friend and he&#8217;s a teammate. Can&#8217;t say enough about the guy on-and-off the racetrack. Thinking about his family for sure, his two daughters. Can&#8217;t imagine.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Marco Andretti (27) drives in the garage area before the Pocono IndyCar 500 auto race Sunday in Long Pond. Andretti wound up crashing out of the race. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_marco.jpg</photo0><caption0>Marco Andretti (27) drives in the garage area before the Pocono IndyCar 500 auto race Sunday in Long Pond. Andretti wound up crashing out of the race. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_sage.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Sage Karam (8) pits during the Pocono IndyCar 500 auto race Sunday in Long Pond. Karam, a Nazareth native, was leading late in the race before a crash ended his victory hopes and sent him to the Lehigh Valley Hospital by ground. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_sage.jpg</photo1><caption1>Sage Karam (8) pits during the Pocono IndyCar 500 auto race Sunday in Long Pond. Karam, a Nazareth native, was leading late in the race before a crash ended his victory hopes and sent him to the Lehigh Valley Hospital by ground. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Kyle Magda</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Times Leader Sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLSports</p></shirttailMeta></div>

High hopes for Nazareth natives Sage Karam and Marco Andretti come to a crashing halt