LEXINGTON, Ohio (AP) Helio Castroneves kept his hands and his car for the most part to himself on Sunday at Mid-Ohio.
Two weeks after the IndyCar star erupted when officials penalized him for blocking late in the race at Edmonton, throwing a tantrum that ended with the Brazilian being placed on probation and fined $60,000, Castroneves put together a quiet third-place finish.
``Obviously, I'm on probation so I have to behave myself,'' Castroneves said with a laugh.
The race, however, wasn't totally incident free. Castroneves and Team Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe ended up sandwiching Ryan Hunter-Reay while exiting the pits early in the race.
Castroneves felt the two cars collide and thought his race was over. Hardly. Instead it appeared to make his No. 3 Honda better.
``From there on, it was great,'' he said.
Castroneves spent the last half of the race following winner Dario Franchitti and teammate Will Power, the same driver he tried to cut off in Edmonton two weeks ago. Could Castroneves have made a run for the lead? Maybe, but he wasn't going to push it.
``I was just being sensible, just trying to make sure that I didn't make anything bad, especially when (Power) has so much lead on the championship,'' Castroneves said. ``I could push, but I have to be a little more cautious.''
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MILKA MISCUES: IndyCar officials put Milka Duno on probation two weeks ago, telling her she needs to get up to speed if she wants to be allowed to compete in the series.
If the officials thought the message would keep Duno out of trouble, they were wrong.
Duno started from the back of the 27-car field after being held out of qualifying on Saturday but still found a way to mix it up. She was nearing the final turn on the 2.258-mile circuit midway through the race when Power and Castroneves came up behind her. Both struggled to slip past, with Castroneves making a late turn into the pits to avoid a mishap.
``She was hard to predict what she's going to do,'' Power said. ``Luckily I got by her.''
Yet the bobble also allowed Franchitti to slightly extend his lead on his way to victory.
``That sort of ruined any chance I had of passing him in the pits during the pit stop,'' Power said. ``Don't know what else to say.''
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RAHAL vs. BRISCOE: Ryan Briscoe's budding rivalry with Graham Rahal is on hold.
For now anyway.
The two IndyCar drivers managed to avoid each other during Sunday's race, their first time being on the track together since a dustup in Toronto last month. Briscoe and Rahal were battling for seventh midway through the race when Rahal ran into the back of Briscoe, sending Briscoe's No. 6 car into the wall.
It sparked a war of words, with Briscoe taking to his twitter account to criticize Rahal. Rahal responded a few days later on a blog. They haven't exactly patched things up.
``I wasn't really expecting him to apologize and he didn't, so I don't care, whatever,'' Briscoe said.
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