INDIANAPOLIS -- Stefan Wilson knew he was going to run out of fuel. The rest of the world did not.
Instead, the 250,000 sweat-drenched fans at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway were on their feet, believing that they were cheering a third consecutive improbable Indianapolis 500 winner to the checkered flag. There were four laps remaining -- really, three -- and Wilson's No. 25 Honda had taken the lead three laps earlier via an electrifying restart when he seized the lead from veteran IndyCar racer Oriol Servia.
He was in position to do so via a gutsy strategy play from his Andretti Autosport team, choosing to stretch their fuel load to see if they might be able to sneak into the lead.