Castroneves takes the checkered flag on “Dancing With The Stars”

Two time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves took home the "coveted" mirror ball trophy in the finals of this season’s "Dancing With The Stars"

Castroneves and partner Julianne Hough bested Spice Girl Mel B and partner Maksum Chmerkovskiy after Monday nights’ final.

Marie Osmond and partner Jonathan Roberts were eliminated early on Tuesday’s final results show, taking third place.

Castroneves and Mel B were neck and neck in the finals on Monday, with the Brazilian race car driver sitting just one point behind the Spice Girl after the judges were through with their scoring.

Many fans (and some insiders) think Chmerkovskiy may have cost Mel B – the frontrunner for most of the season after the shocking elimination of Sabrina Bryan a few weeks back –  the title after the syndicated entertainment news show Extra aired a controversal interview on Monday with the pro dancer where he trashed Marie Osmond as not deserving to be in the finals, and basically coming across like a major jerk. While some fans jumped to Maks’ defense, most people posting comments on Extra’s site following the interview felt that Maks was out of line for criticizing Osmond, who he said was capturing the sympathy vote after a season which found the 48 year old singer fainting during a live show, losing her father suddenly and dealing with the burdens of having her 16 year old son enter rehab. Fans were particularly angry that Chmerkovskiy compared the fact that Mel B’s year old child had chicken pox during the show’s run to the problems which beset both Osmond and fellow competitor Jane Seymour, who also lost her mother during the run of the show.

The win makes two in a row for Hough, the 19 year old professional dancer teamed with Castroneves – Hough took Olympic gold medalist Apolo Anton Ohno to the trophy last season.

Congrats to Helio and Julianne!