Earlier this month, in the middle of the Democratic presidential primary, Sen. Hillary Clinton even came out to practice and thanked driver-owner Sarah Fisher for supporting her. Fisher got into the race on a shoestring, coming up with a sponsor only last week and hoping a good finish here would provide the impetus to run at least one car for the rest of the season.

But that feel-good story, too, got squashed when the spinout caused by Andretti’s pinch sent Kanaan’s car spinning down the track and directly into Fisher’s path.

“I’ve been known my whole career to be able to get out of incidents like that,” Fisher said, fighting back tears. “That’s the crazy thing about this sport. This is going to set us back a little bit.

“I think,” she added, as the tears began flowing, “I’ve experienced every emotion there is to it.”

Good to know that somebody felt that way. During all those years that fans were forced to choose sides, nobody was looking out for the sport itself. The bickering caused some of the most promising drivers of this generation to defect to NASCAR, beginning with veterans like Tony Stewart and extending all the way to the previous two winners of the Indy 500, Sam Hornish Jr., and Dario Franchitti.

All of them — save Franchitti, who broke his foot in a recent crash — were on display when NASCAR’s Coca Cola 600 began Sunday night and a bigger chunk of the TV audience will follow them there. With peace finally in place and a chance to grow the business, it’s time for the people in charge of open-wheel racing to focus their attention back on the track.

Someone asked Dixon afterward what it meant to win the first “real” Indy 500 in years.

“It’s nice,” he said, refreshingly candid. “That’s about all I can say about it.”

Perfect.

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