Maybe too patient.
"I remember (team president Tim) Cindric on the radio saying 'Come on, man, we have work to do,"' Castroneves said. "I'm like 'What do you mean buddy? Patience. I have to be patient, so you have to be patient.' "
The patience and precision that define Team Penske's IndyCar dominance backfired when Castroneves failed to give the team its prized triple crown, after Penske teams won the Daytona 500 and Sebring earlier this year.
"Fourth place was definitely not what we expected," Castroneves said. "We tried everything we could."
The race was a frustrating, uncharacteristic ordeal for the Penske team.
It was the first time since 1992 that a Penske driver competed at Indy without leading a lap. Worse, Ryan Briscoe tangled with Danica Patrick coming out of the pit box, ending the race for both drivers after 171 laps. Patrick stomped toward Briscoe's crew before she was led over the wall, eliminating any possible confrontation.
It was that kind of day for Team Penske, prompting team owner Roger Penske to call a team meeting after the race.
"Our team thought the performance was a strong performance," team spokesman Jonathan Gibson said. "But it's disappointing to come here and not win."
The problem was Penske's drivers simply could not keep up with the fastest cars on the track, something that doesn't happen often at Indianapolis.
Briscoe, who started third, steadily slid back, spending the middle of the race in the 20s before finishing 22nd.
Castroneves spent most of the day running in the top 10 but couldn't catch Scott Dixon, Vitor Meira or Marco Andretti, who all finished ahead of him. Dixon beat Meira to the finish line by more than two seconds, and Castroneves wasn't even a factor at the end.
Penske wasn't immediately available for comment.
Usually, Castroneves finds himself closer to the front.
"Unfortunately, it was very difficult to pass," Castroneves said. "We were just trying to keep gaining spots."
Castroneves, the two-time race winner couldn't make up the spots fast enough, and this time, he couldn't rely on fan votes to help him, as he did to win last year's "Dancing With The Stars" contest.
Still, Castroneves has finished in the top five five times in eight Indy starts. He won the race in 2001 and 2002, won the pole in 2003 and 2007, and was a runner-up in the 2003 race.
The Penske team also had some bad luck when debris from Marty Roth's crash on lap 62 bounced up and damaged Castroneves' front wing early in the race.
But Team Penske relies on strategy and execution -- not luck -- to get to Victory Lane. And that sent the team scrambling to figure out what went wrong.
"Neither car was ever put in a situation where they led a lap," Gibson said. "We're a team that's used to leading laps here, and unfortunately, that didn't happen today."
Milan join Flamini race
Briscoe making most of second chance
