Helio Castroneves and Sam Hornish Jr. were charging hard at the end of Sunday's Indianapolis 500, but they couldn't outrun the rain.

Castroneves finished third and Hornish placed fourth in the 91st running of the event after rain forced a short ending to the historic race. Dario Franchitti was in the lead when rain began falling, ending the race on the 166th of 200 laps.

Castroneves said the No. 3 Team Penske Honda/Dallara was strong after the final pit stop, and he started to rapidly close on Franchitti and Scott Dixon, who eventually finished second.

“The car was incredible after that last pit,” Castroneves said. “It was just a rocket ship. When I looked on the board, it was (lap) 160. That's the time Rick Mears normally says go. And I went, and the car was real accepting. It is such a shame to not be able to finish green. It would have been such a battle.”

While Castroneves was finishing third, team-mate and defending race winner Hornish had to settle for fourth after an incident with Tomas Scheckter flattened the left-rear tire on the No. 6 Team Penske Honda/Dallara.

“We battled back from 15th to fourth, so we were fortunate to get another shot,” Hornish said. “The car was running well, but we didn't have enough for the leaders at the end of the race due to the race being cut short.”

The race included a three-hour rain delay.

"It was the worst situation,” Castroneves said. “You want to keep going. We made some adjustments and it was good. That's what the beauty of it is. You try to make everything better. Rain sometimes does that."

Castroneves, who started from the pole position, has won the race twice - in 2001 and 2002 - while Team Penske has won it four times in the past seven years. The team has little time to prepare for the next race, as the IndyCar Series season resumes Sunday at The Milwaukee Mile.

“I really have to hand it to everyone at Team Penske,” Hornish said. “The guys did an amazing job on pit stops as well as the entire month. Now we just have to look ahead to Milwaukee and hopefully, we can get a win there.”

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