Wearing a red cap and a wreath of flowers, Helio Castroneves perched atop his car in victory lane late Sunday afternoon and, for the first time in seven years, took a jubilant swig from the bottle of milk that is handed to the Indianapolis 500 champion.
Then Castroneves sank into the cockpit, bowed his head and sobbed. He won the race for the third time, becoming just the ninth driver to do so, but this victory had come under very different, and much more difficult, circumstances than his victories in 2001 and 2002.
“I think my tears speak for everything,†he said later.
Thirty-seven days before Sunday’s race, he was acquitted of federal income-tax charges, allowing him to drive an Indy car again for Roger Penske. Castroneves completed a superb month at Indianapolis Motor Speedway by  … Details