Analysis: behind the lead battle

True, Sam Hornish Jr.'s dramatic win over Marco Andretti was the second-closest finish since the race began in 1911.

True, it was the first time in Indy 500 history that the winner took the lead on the final lap.

True, it was the first Indy win for Hornish and a record 14th for team owner Roger Penske.

True, it was the best finish by an Andretti in his rookie season.

But the rest of it - including five crashes, brutal heat, downed crewmen and flying debris - wasn't pretty.

Five spectators were treated for minor injuries when a piece of the rear wing from Tomas Scheckter's car flew into the grandstand, and more than 200 fans were treated for heat-related issues during an afternoon in which the temperature reached 89 degrees and the relative humidity hit 50 percent.

The wing panel vaulted into the crowd when Jaques Lazier inadvertently struck it after Scheckter's car hit the wall in Turn 4 on the 67th lap. Two fans were struck by the debris, while two others were injured trying to avoid it.

IRL officials said the fans were treated for bruises and abrasions, but none of the injuries was considered serious.

"My spotter never told me there was a wing sitting on the track," Lazier said. "I never saw it. ... I guess it flew up in the stands. I hope everyone is OK with that one, because that scares me."

Even Hornish had some unsightly moments, including a pit stop in which he pulled away while the fuel hose was still attached to the No. 6 Marlboro Team Penske Honda/Dallara, splashing a crew member with fuel and running over his feet.

The problem resulted in a drive-through penalty that dropped Hornish from second to seventh.

The other Penske entry, two-time 500 winner Helio Castroneves, didn't finish nearly as gracefully as his teammate, crashing out of the race after tangling with Buddy Rice on the 110th lap. It marked the first time in his six Indy 500s that Castroneves didn't finish the race.

"I need to know what happened," Castroneves said. "It's frustrating. There was some interesting driving going on out there."

Hornish was spectacular at the end, becoming the first driver ever to win with a last-lap pass.

Three times a driver has won by taking the lead on the next-to-last lap: Joe Dawson in 1912, Emerson Fittipaldi in 1989, and Kenny Brack in 1999. But nobody had ever won by passing on the final lap, and certainly not under such crazy circumstances.

Drivers struggled to get through Indianapolis Motor Speedway's tricky turns as the track temperature hit 126 degrees. Seven drivers crashed out of the race, and many others left the race with harsh words for their competitors.

"When I wasn't stuck behind Ed Carpenter, who was a lap down, I was doing OK," said Dario Franchitti, who finished seventh.

"He seemed to be in sequence with me, but a lap down. Everybody gets a blue flag or a warning, but he gets nothing. Shouldn't be very surprised about that."

Three drivers, concerned that they were creating trouble on the track, simply gave up on ill-handling race cars. Larry Foyt, Stephan Gregoire and Arie Luyendyk Jr. parked their machines after heat-induced sliding made them wary.

"It was wiser to stop so we didn't cause any problems for the rest of them," Gregoire said. "The handling was horrible. It was too dangerous for all the other guys."

Others stayed with it even after brushes with the wall. Felipe Giaffone held on to the No. 14 A.J. Foyt Enterprises Honda/Dallara even after it buzzed the wall, eventually finishing 21st -- 23 laps off the pace.

"I thought I actually crashed so many times today," Giaffone said. "I was on my way to the pits to put on new tires, and I got into the marbles trying to stay out of the way of the guys and brushed the wall. We were just having a really bad day."

While Hornish was edging Andretti at the line by 0.0635 seconds, most of the other competitors weren't aware of the thrilling conclusion.

"I had no idea," said Vitor Meira, who battled handling issues but finished 10th. "I was just trying to hang on to my life, man."