RICHMOND, Va. – Pole-sitter Tony Kanaan took advantage of an out-of-sequence pit stop by front-running teammate Marco Andretti on Saturday night and ran away with the SunTrust Indy Challenge for his first victory of the season.
On a night when half of the 26 cars at Richmond International Raceway went home damaged, Kanaan got the good fortune he said he deserved, avoiding the near-constant mayhem caused by a record-tying nine caution flags and coasting to his 13th career IndyCar victory.
The victory came a week after Kanaan led 71 laps at Iowa before crashing, absorbing what he said was one of the hardest hits of his life and his latest experience with bad luck.
He made up for it by beating the field out of the pits the last time he had to and paid homage to his crew. “They kept putting me in the lead and I kept letting them down,” he said.
Helio Castroneves, who started 18th, used a blistering early pit stop to get into contention and finished second, followed by Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon. Series rookie Oriol Servia was fifth, and Danica Patrick was sixth.
“I wasn’t the fastest, but second is pretty darned good,” Castroneves said.
Andretti, who was almost as dominant as his Andretti Green Racing teammate until he gave up the lead by pitting under green with 95 laps to go, never recovered and wound up ninth.
“I feel bad about Marco,” Kanaan said. “I think he has as strong a car as I had.”
The race looked like a more familiar NASCAR event on the 0.75-mile oval, the smallest on the series. Before a lap was completed, Ryan Hunter-Reay spun out in the front stretch – a sign of things to come.
Nationwide Series
LOUDON, N.H. – Two-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart, who has no wins in the top stock car series this season, drove away Saturday with his fifth victory in seven Nationwide starts in 2008.
Stewart got good track position, restarting third after taking just two tires during his final pit stop on lap 129 of the 200-lap event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He took the lead on lap 136 from fellow Cup star Carl Edwards and led the rest of the way.
Teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch finished second and third.
Trucks Series
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Ron Hornaday won the O’Reilly 200 to take the Craftsman Truck Series points lead, leading the final 129 laps and enduring a green-white-checker finish.
Johnny Benson, who entered the race as the series points leader, captured the pole, but had engine problems on Lap 83, and finished 33rd.
NHRA
NORWALK, Ohio – Allen Johnson won the $50,000 K&N Horsepower Challenge at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park, his first victory in the special bonus event for the eight quickest Pro Stock teams from the last year.
Results in Scoreboard 9C.