Pit incident hampers Byrd driver Davison

<p>INDIANAPOLIS</p><p>Australian driver James Davison, who raced for Greenwood business-based Dale Coyne with Byrd and Belardi, saw his good early run ruined in a pit lane incident with three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves.</p><p>Brothers David and Jonathan Byrd both sponsored the car.</p><p>Davison appeared to miss his pit box, and while he tried to adjust, he was tapped from behind by Castroneves. Davison’s Honda-powered Dallara was swung around backwards, just forward of his pit box and nearly knocking a tire onto the track.</p><p>“I pitted and the speed limit limiter didn’t work. As a result, I had to do it NASCAR-style, just looking at the RPMs on the dash,” Davison said. “Helio, unfortunately, was a victim of circumstances. He pulled out to pass me since I wasn’t going exactly 60 miles per hour doing it manually. Right when I needed to pull into my box, it spun me and it was unfortunate for both of us.”</p><p>The Byrd crew got Davison turned around, but he dropped several places after running as high as fourth place.</p><p>Davison didn’t give up and due to a combination of speed, good pit stops and luck, the Aussie eventually finished 12th, the best finish for a Byrd-sponsored team since Buddy Lazier finished fifth for them in 2005.</p><p>Could he have finished in the top 10, or even had something for the leaders at the end?</p><p>David Byrd said we’ll never know, but he certainly would have liked the team’s chances.</p><p>“Yeah, I think for sure, but who knows how it would have played out?” he said. “I don’t think we had anything for (race winner Simon) Pagenaud, but the team did a fantastic job with the recovery, the strategy worked out well and James did a fantastic job.</p><p>“He put us in a position to get back on the lead lap and do 500 miles.”</p><p>Davison put the incident behind him and drove a steady, comfortable race to bring the Dale Coyne with Byrd and Belardi Dallara-Honda home.</p><p>“This was a way better program than last year,” Byrd said. “Better support, better operations and hopefully we can take this and do this again next year.”</p>