Kanaan Wins Caution-Filled Race At Richmond

By Joe Jennings
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Updated: June 29, 2008

RICHMOND, June 28 – Tony Kanaan raced to victory in the wreck-strewn SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway, the ninth IndyCar Series race of the 2008 season.

The flashy Brazilian won for the first time in 2008 and the first time on the challenging .75-mile oval at RIR. Overall, he now has 13 career wins.

“I am pretty happy, especially after wrecking last week when I let the team down,” Kanaan said in victory lane. “It was a tough race with a lot of action. I benefited from being in the front. It was a typical Richmond race. When we got going I knew I would have a good car. Marco (Andretti) would have won the race if he hadn’t got caught up in a pit strategy.”

Regarding the team strategies, he added, “We (the team) had split the strategies to cover our bases, and for once, the luck came out on my side.”

Other than a competitive race with teammate Andretti, Kanaan endured a severe challenge from good friend Jaime Camara, who led 44 laps. “Jaime gave me the run of my life.”

The winner drove the Team 7-Eleven car fielded by Andretti Green Racing. The team scored its 34th series victory and second of the season.

Helio Castroneves advanced his Team Penske car from 18th to second place. “Wow, what a night of racing,” the personable Brazilian said. “We found grooves that didn’t exist, as I wanted to win this race so bad. I passed a lot of cars on the track and in the pits.”

Speaking of the winning team, he added, “Andretti Green was more consistent than we were which is why then won and we finished second.”

Third and fourth went to Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon. The latter ran coasted into the pits after running out of fuel on the last lap.

For Dixon, it marked his seventh consecutive top-five finish.

Eight cars finished on the lead lap with Oriol Servia finishing fifth, for his best finish ever. Danica Patrick took sixth, Justin Wilson seventh and Townsend Bell ninth.

Andretti claimed ninth place after leading 90 laps, and he was the first driver to congratulate Kanaan in victory lane. Fuel strategy caught up with him. He made his last stop under the green flag while the other contenders were able to stop during a caution flag several laps later.

E. J. Viso ended up 10th.

Ed Carpenter and Darren Manning were among the many drivers that were in accidents, except their teams made repairs and they returned to the track to finish 11th and 12th. They completed 238 and 235 laps, respectively.

In the point standings, Dixon has 351, Castoneves 308, Wheldon 299, Kanaan 269 and Patrick 220.

Crashes and yellow flags started early and continued until late in the race. In the first 150 laps, eight slowdowns occurred. The nine caution flags tied a track record and the 102 laps set a record. The 102 caution laps were the second-most in series history.

The accidents started on the first lap and continued occurring often through the first 165 laps.

The IndyCar Series travels to Watkins Glen next weekend for a road-course event.