IndyCar: Top 5 strangest races since 2010

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HOUSTON, TX – JUNE 28: (L-R) Colombians Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the #2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, Carlos Huertas, driver of the #18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda and Carlos Munoz, driver of the #34 Cinsay AndrettiTV.com HVM Honda (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images) /

#2 – 2014 Shell-Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston – Race #1

What is it about IndyCar doubleheaders in the state of Texas — or races in the state of Texas in general?

This first race of the 2014 Shell-Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston produced arguably not only the biggest upset winner of the decade but in IndyCar history.

Carlos Huertas, who was driving for Dale Coyne Racing, a team that had earned three IndyCar victories since entering the sport in the 1984 season, entered the race having made eight career starts in his IndyCar career, all in the 2014 season, his rookie season.

The young Colombian recorded just two top 10 finishes in these eight starts, the better of which being an eighth place finish that he recorded in the race on the streets of Long Beach, California.

Because of the rain, the race was shortened to a timed race of 110 minutes around the 10-turn, 1.644-mile (2.543-kilometer) Houston street course in Houston, Texas. It was originally scheduled to be a 90-lap race.

With only a few minutes left in the race, Justin Wilson, Huertas’s teammate, was leading the race in attempt to stretch his fuel load to the end. Huertas was running in second place. When Wilson abandoned this strategy and came into the pits for fuel, Huertas inherited the lead to lead laps for the first time in his IndyCar career.