Franchitti Wins SunTrust Indy Challenge

Rounding out the top five were Tony Kanaan and Buddy Rice.

Dario Franchitti and Ashley Judd Photo courtesy: richmondraceway.com

RICHMOND, Va. - Dario Franchitti continued his dominance of the IndyCar® Series this year with a dominant win "Under the Lights" at Richmond International Raceway.

He nearly achieved "Racing Perfection" as he led all but 8 laps in the fastest race in Raceway history.

At an average speed of 133.408 mph, Dario finished 0.4194 seconds ahead of Scott Dixon, who in turn narrowly beat his teammate Dan Wheldon.

Rounding out the top five were Tony Kanaan and Buddy Rice.

Danica Patrick finished sixth, just ahead of a charging Tomas Scheckter.

Franchitti commented after the race, "It's been a great season for us." “Each race the guys do a fantastic job. I've been driving the wheels off this thing and things have been going my way. I was good on restarts. If you can pass Tony (Kanaan) on a restart, you know you have a great car,” Franchitti continued.

Second-place finisher Dixon commented on the difficulty of making a run at Franchitti, “Off line, with all the marbles, it's very hard to risk it.”

As the field came down to take the green flag, Sam Hornish Jr. spun his machine coming out of turn 4.

The field did a great job of avoiding the spinning car.

This would lead to a difficult evening for Hornish, as he would finish a disappointing 15th, two laps down.

By lap 40, the entire field was bunched up behind rookie Milka Duno. It almost looked like she was leading the race.

At this point, leader Franchitti was right behind teammate Marco Andretti and appeared to be helping him stay on the lead lap.

Shortly after that, Marco slipped up going high in turn one and Dario had no option but to pass his teammate.

The entire field dove for the pits on lap 63 during a caution for debris in turn 2.

Tony Kanaan’s crew finished its work just a bit faster, getting their man out in the lead.

It would be short lived though, as Franchitti pounced on his teammate, grabbing the lead back into turn one.

A pattern began to emerge as the race neared the half way point.

Just as the field was strung out behind Duno earlier, this time it was Jeff Simmons.

Behind Simmons was Marco Andretti.

One of the few drivers who was able to make passes was Buddy Rice.

He was up to 6th after starting in the 12th position.

Caution number three flew when Simmons hit the wall exiting turn 2.

Replays showed how he understeered right into the wall.

Luckily it was a one car accident.

Unlucky for Helio Castroneves, the yellow came out just as he was coming down pit lane.

He was allowed to get a splash of fuel. However, he did not blend into traffic upon returning to the track.

He sped around the circuit to pit again, against the wishes of Race Control.

Castroneves was then forced to serve a Drive Through penalty after the race returned to green-flag action.

By lap 200, Sam Hornish Jr., running two laps down found himself running just behind leader Franchitti and ahead of the chasing machines of Dixon and Wheldon.

On lap 204, Hornish dove to the inside of Franchitti entering turn one.

The two drivers did a masterful job of avoiding contact as Franchitti was not giving an inch.

Five laps later, Hornish decided that discretion was the better part of valor and removed himself from the fight for the lead.

A final dash to the checkered flag was set up on lap 239 when Sam Hornish Jr. and Kosuke Matsuura made contact, bringing out the yellow.

Hornish was able to continue, but Matsuura’s car shed some small parts as he returned to the pits.

The green flew for the last time on lap 244.

The top 6 cars were able to maintain their positions, but Tomas Scheckter was able to wrestle seventh place from Scott Sharp.

Franchitti’s 242 laps led are a Richmond International Raceway and IndyCar Series record, eclipsing the old record set in 2001 at Richmond by Buddy Lazier.

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