Kanaan wins Richmond crashfest

Winner Tony Kanaan is congratulated by team owner Michael Andretti

Chris Jones/IRL

Tony Kanaan kept the No. 11 7-Eleven car clear of the many accidents that turned Richmond International Raceway into a crashfest to claim his first victory since Belle Isle last September and his first on an oval since Kentucky in August. The pole sitter held off Team Penske's Helio Castroneves, who advanced 16 positions through furious driving and attrition for his fourth second place of the season.

Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon was third and teammate Dan Wheldon fourth. KV Racing Technology's Oriol Servia finished a career-best fifth on an oval.

An accident on lap one set the tone for the rest of the evening. A total of 10 cars were eliminated from the race because of contact. The 300-lap race (lengthened 50 laps from '07) under the lights was marred by 105 caution laps. The IndyCar Series record is 116 at Nazareth Speedway in 2002. It was an expensive night that resulted in a lot of expensive equipment damaged – a grim reminder that the IndyCars don't belong on such a small Mickey Mouse track. Imagine next year when it's likely the IndyCar grid might have 30 or more cars!

Andretti Green Racing's Danica Patrick finished sixth and Justin Wilson moved up 16 spots to seventh (tying his career best on an oval). Townsend Bell in the No. 23 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing car finished eighth and Marco Andretti was ninth. Andretti completed 135 laps (many under caution) on one 22-gallon load of ethanol.

Dixon’s Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dan Wheldon finished fourth, followed by KV Racing Technology’s Oriol Servia in his first start at the .75-mile oval.

Servia’s Australian teammate Will Power had an unfortunate start to his Richmond race, with the back of his #8 Aussie Vineyards – Team Australia Honda/Dallara/Firestone stepping out and seeing him make contact with the SAFER Barrier soon after the first restart of the race.

From here the IndyCar series heads to its first road-course since the streets of St Petersburg with the Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen July 6 at Watkins Glen International as the unified series continues on a schedule that is the most diverse in world motorsports.

INDYCAR SERIES POST-RACE NOTES:
• This is Tony Kanaan’s 13th career victory and his first since Belle Isle last season.
• This is Andretti Green Racing’s 34th victory in the IndyCar Series and its second this season. Danica Patrick won earlier this year at Twin Ring Motegi.
• There were 102 laps under caution, second-most in IndyCar Series history. The 2002 race at Nazareth had 116 laps run under caution. There were 99 caution laps at Dover in 1998.
• Helio Castroneves improved 15 positions to finish second, his fourth second-place finish of the season (St. Petersburg, Motegi and Texas).
• Scott Dixon finished third, his seventh consecutive top-five finish and eighth top-five finish of the season.
• Oriol Servia finished fifth, his best finish in the IndyCar Series. His previous best was sixth at Milwaukee.
• Justin Wilson finished seventh, tying his best finish in the IndyCar Series. He also finished seventh at Milwaukee.
• Townsend Bell finished a season-best eighth. His previous best was 10th at Motegi and Indianapolis.
• Jaime Camara led his first laps in the IndyCar Series. They also were the first laps led for a Conquest Racing driver on an oval since Laurent Redon led 39 laps at Richmond in 2002.

Quotes

TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Team 7-Eleven, finished first): “It was tough race at first but once we got going, I knew we could do it with the car. The problem was we had a lot of yellows and people making mistakes. Traffic was really good; everybody did a good job trying to keep away from the leaders. It was a great race apart from all of the yellows."

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Team Penske, second): “We tried everything. Team Penske did a great job in our pit stops. I was driving my wheels off of it.. I was trying everything I could to make up spots. The only chance I got was mostly on restarts and the start of the race. Andretti Green seemed to be better than us. They seemed to be more consistent, especially when the tires started dropping a little bit. It’s a shame. I wanted to win so bad, especially for the folks from Philip Morris. We had a good showing."

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, third): “It was a tough night. We had a very good car. Once again it was very tough to pass here. Even when the tires got old, it was very hard to get close to people. If we were out front, I think we had a car to win. TK (Tony Kanaan) definitely looked pretty strong tonight, but I think the Target car still had a good run. I think I just messed up my first pit stop and maybe the left rear or one of the rear guys had trouble getting it back on. We dropped back to about eighth or ninth, so it was good to come away with third."

DAN WHELDON (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, fourth): “I was trying to be aggressive while trying to finish the race. It was difficult behind the other cars, and we knew there would be more than a few wrecks tonight. The car shut off on the last lap for some reason, and that's not what we need when we're trying to close the points gap."

ORIOL SERVIA (No. 5 KV Racing Technology, fifth): “When we unloaded the car right away I said we have a top-five car, and fortunately was able to prove it. I’m very pleased with how the team performed. Everybody expected us to do well on the road and street courses, but I really wanted to prove the team is capable of doing a good job on ovals."

DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Motorola, sixth): “It was a carnage fest out there tonight with all the wrecks and cautions. I am happy with my finish. Obviously I wish we could have finished in the top five. The Motorola crew did a great job. I am also very happy that Tony (Kanaan) got his win. He totally deserved it."

JUSTIN WILSON (No. 02 McDonald’s Racing Team, seventh): “What a crazy race. There was some really good driving and some really bad driving out there. I was just trying not to get caught out and stay out of trouble and bring the car home. The McDonald’s car wasn’t the quickest car out there today, but we managed to salvage some good points, and hopefully that will help us out in the championship. The team did a good job on the pit stops. I’m not sure how many we did, maybe 10. I had a bit of a moment with E.J. (Viso) at the end. His team told him yellow at the end of Turn 3 for the checkered flag and it caused a big moment. He lifted off the throttle, and I had to also but got sucked up behind him and I was all sideways and crossed up to avoid him. I thought I had crashed and was going to cross the finish line with no wheels on the car. I thought ‘I’ve come through all this only to crash at the very end. Fortunately we were able to keep all four corners on it and bring it home."

TOWNSEND BELL (No. 23 Dreyer & Reinbold William Rast, eighth): “We just made smart decisions tonight. Great spotting by Dane (Carter). We just had the mindset of wanting to make it to the end. This race was sketchy, which is what I expected. It was a total dogfight that first half of the race. Our car was great. We’re going to continue to work on things. It’s just fun to get another top-10. I’m pleased. It’s our best finish of the year. We can’t complain about that. The guys did a great job in the pits, and I can’t wait to get back into the car again."

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 26 Blockbuster, ninth): “I am incredibly disappointed. The Blockbuster car was the best car on the track today."

Results

Race Statistics

Winner's average speed: 108.790 mph

Time of race: 2:04:05.5111

Margin of victory: 4.7691 seconds

Cautions: 9 caution flags for 102 laps

Lead changes: 3 among 3 drivers

Lap leaders: Kanaan 1-71, Camara 72-115, M. Andretti 116-205,

Kanaan 206-300.

Point standings: Dixon 351, Castroneves 308, Wheldon 299,

Kanaan 269, Patrick 220, Mutoh 216, M. Andretti 211, Briscoe 210, Servia 194, Carpenter 185.