Helio Castroneves hardly ever loses his cool in public, but he certainly crossed a line at the Honda Indy Edmonton on July 25. Castroneves had a win locked down at Edmonton going into the final lap of the race, but he was black-flagged after the final restart for blocking teammate Will Power.

Though Castroneves crossed the finish line first at the Edmonton race, he was docked 20 seconds and ended up in 10th place after the penalty. Power, who ultimately dropped into third place, was awarded the second place finish and Scott Dixon, who was running in second and hadn’t led a lap in the race, came away with the first place finish.

Following the race and ruling to call Castroneves for blocking Power, the Brazilian jumped out of his car in a post-race outburst full of expletives and arm-flailing. Castroneves went as far in his temper tantrum as to grab an IRL official by his shirt collar, though he quickly cooled off and admitted his wrongdoings.

Castroneves’ frustrations were out of line but were certainly not uncalled for, as his “blocking” penalty was questionable. Though Castroneves was on the inside line while Power tried to go around him, it wasn’t as intentional as some blocks and the drivers have certainly seen worse than that left uncalled by the IRL.

Will Power, the other driver involved in the penalty decision, defended his teammate to autosport.com after the race, saying, “Helio had the inside line, I tried to go around the outside…I understand Helio’s position – he’s leading at a late restart. I got a run on him, he blocked me. I would say a black flag is a pretty harsh penalty, but it is what it is. It was just one of those racing things. When you’re leading on the last restart you want to keep the lead.”

This blocking attempt from Castroneves certainly wasn’t his first, but was the severe punishment just considering the action? The decision making comes down to the IRL’s Brian Barnhart, who maintains his ruling that Castroneves broke the league’s rules and needs to pay for his actions.

“The rules are clear on it,” Barnhart told autosport.com. “In every drivers’ meeting we talk about it. On road courses we divide the track physically in half, and from the braking point to entry they’re told you can only be on the inside half if you’re attempting to overtake someone. If you’re on the inside half while someone is trying to overtake you, it’s blocking.”

Castroneves could get a further penalty for his post-race melee at Edmonton, and he will meet with IRL officials in the near future to discuss the consequences for his actions. In the meantime, Castroneves is still (as of July 29) in sixth place overall in driver standings, right behind the top five of Ryan Hunter-Reay (5), Ryan Briscoe (4), Scott Dixon (3), Dario Franchitti (2) and Will Power (1). No matter if Castroneves gets a further penalty, probation or even suspension for his actions at Edmonton, IRL fans are still running to get Indy Racing League (IRL) tickets to upcoming races this season to get in on the action.

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