2008 SunTrust Indy Challenge

2008 Richmond
Race details
9th round of the 2008 IndyCar Series season
Date June 28, 2008
Official name SunTrust Indy Challenge
Location Richmond International Raceway
Course Permanent racing facility
0.750 mi / 1.207 km
Distance 300 laps
225.000 mi / 362.102 km
Weather 89°F, Hazy
Pole position
Driver Tony Kanaan (United States Andretti Green Racing)
Time 1:04.3333 (4 laps)
Fastest lap
Driver Tony Kanaan (United States Andretti Green Racing)
Time 16.9369 (on lap 234 of 300)
Podium
First Tony Kanaan (United States Andretti Green Racing)
Second Hélio Castroneves (United States Penske Racing)
Third Scott Dixon (United States Chip Ganassi Racing)

The 2008 SunTrust Indy Challenge was the ninth round of the 2008 IndyCar Series season and took place on June 28, 2008 at the 0.750-mile (1.207 km) Richmond International Raceway, in Henrico County, Virginia. At the start, Ryan Hunter-Reay spun just before the start/finish line, which brought the yellow out immediately. The first 7 laps were run under yellow with Tony Kanaan leading from the pole position. On lap 8, the green came out, but only one lap was completed before the next yellow. Will Power was driving below Hélio Castroneves, lost control, and crashed in turn 4. The race finally got going on lap 21, when the green came out once again. On lap 31, A. J. Foyt IV touched wheels with John Andretti, and Foyt crashed in the wall in turn 2. His Vision Racing teammate Ed Carpenter ran over debris from the crash, and both cars were sidelined. During the caution, a handful of cars pitted, including Danica Patrick and rookie Jaime Camara, but most of the leaders stayed on the track.

Kanaan continued to lead when debris brought out the caution again on lap 67. All of the leaders pitted, while Camara and Patrick stayed out and took the first two spots. On the restart, Camara led the field, but Buddy Rice spun and tagged the wall on the frontstretch. The field checked up, and Darren Manning, Ryan Briscoe and Bruno Junqueira were involved in a separate crash. Camara led at the next restart, while Kanaan, Patrick, and Castroneves went 3-wide for second. Behind them in turn 2, John Andretti and Vitor Meira tangled, and crashed hard in the wall. Patrick returned to the pits, and topped off with fuel. Camara continued to lead, and impressively held off Kanaan on the restart. On lap 116, Marco Andretti caught up to Camara, and took the lead for the first time.

Graham Rahal crashed on lap 133 in turn 4. Many of the leaders pitted, but Marco Andretti stayed out to lead. Another restart saw only three green laps, as yet another crash occurred, this time involving Hunter-Reay and Mario Moraes. Around this time, some teams anticipated that rain might end the race early. Marco Andretti gave up the lead on lap 204 when he made his final pit stop. That put Kanaan back into the lead. On lap 217, after a brilliant run in the top five, Camara lost control and crashed on the frontstretch. The yellow trapped Andretti a lap down, and kept Kanaan in the lead after the final sequence of pits stops. The rain held off, and Kanaan led the rest of the way for his first victory of the season.

Result

Finish Car
No.
Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Laps
Led
Points
1 11 Brazil Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing 300 2:04:05.5111 1 166 53
2 3 Brazil Hélio Castroneves Penske Racing 300 +4.7691 18 0 40
3 9 New Zealand Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 300 +6.6504 4 0 35
4 10 United Kingdom Dan Wheldon Chip Ganassi Racing 300 +7.7270 6 0 32
5 5 Spain Oriol Servià (R) KV Racing 300 +10.7701 10 0 30
6 7 United States Danica Patrick Andretti Green Racing 300 +10.9198 14 0 28
7 02 United Kingdom Justin Wilson (R) Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing 300 +16.3094 23 0 26
8 23 United States Townsend Bell Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 300 +17.5175 21 0 24
9 26 United States Marco Andretti Andretti Green Racing 299 +1 Lap 2 90 22
10 33 Venezuela E. J. Viso (R) HVM Racing 298 +2 Laps 19 0 20
11 20 United States Ed Carpenter Vision Racing 238 +62 Laps 13 0 19
12 14 United Kingdom Darren Manning A. J. Foyt Enterprises 235 +65 Laps 22 0 18
13 27 Japan Hideki Mutoh (R) Andretti Green Racing 220 Mechanical 7 0 17
14 34 Brazil Jaime Camara (R) Conquest Racing 217 Contact 24 44 16
15 6 Australia Ryan Briscoe Penske Racing 158 +142 Laps 11 0 15
16 17 United States Ryan Hunter-Reay (R) Rahal Letterman Racing 143 Contact 25 0 14
17 19 Brazil Mario Moraes (R) Dale Coyne Racing 143 Contact 20 0 13
18 06 United States Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing 131 Contact 3 0 12
19 25 Canada Marty Roth Roth Racing 117 Handling 15 0 12
20 4 Brazil Vitor Meira Panther Racing 91 Contact 17 0 12
21 24 United States John Andretti Roth Racing 91 Contact 12 0 12
22 15 United States Buddy Rice Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 80 Contact 5 0 12
23 18 Brazil Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 78 Contact 9 0 12
24 2 United States A. J. Foyt IV Vision Racing 29 Contact 8 0 12
25 8 Australia Will Power (R) KV Racing 8 Contact 16 0 10
26 36 Brazil Enrique Bernoldi Conquest Racing 6 Handling 26 0 10
Race average speed: 108.790 mph (175.081 km/h)
Lead changes: 3 between 3 drivers
Cautions: 9 for 102 laps

References

Preceded by
2008 Iowa Corn Indy 250
IRL IndyCar Series
round 9

2008
Succeeded by
2008 Camping World Indy Grand Prix at the Glen
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