Tony Kanaan made the most of his qualifying position at Richmond International Raceway to avoid the chaos that marred the SunTrust Indy Challenge and claim his first victory of the 2008 IndyCar Series campaign.
Starting from the pole meant that the Brazilian was ahead of the majority of the incidents that forced no fewer than nine yellow flag periods as the 300-lap race saw a third of its distance completed at controlled pace. Ironically, however, the result was probably decided when a yellow
didn't appear, as Marco Andretti's alternative strategy saw him making the only green flag stop of the day, losing the lead of the race in the process.
The mayhem began as the field took the green for the first time, Ryan Hunter-Reay spinning his Rahal Letterman Racing entry even before crossing the start line as he attempted to floor the throttle in an attempt to make up early positions, having been forced to start at the back by problems in qualifying.
Although RHR was able to control the rotation and rejoin the tail of the field, he took advantage of the surprisingly prolonged yellow to join fellow backmarkers Enrique Bernoldi and Justin Wilson in the pits. Only two rejoined, however, as Bernoldi called it a day after reporting that his car continued to feel unhappy following its hefty practice crash on Friday.
The restart was finally called for lap eight, but 'racing' only lasted a matter of corners as Will Power, aware that he was being pinched down by Helio Castroneves, lost the Team Australia car in turn four and hit the wall hard with the right-hand side. The Aussie later reported that his car had been loose from the start and denied that there had been any contact from Helio.
Castroneves had been the man on the move in the opening laps. Defying the belief that Richmond does little to promote overtaking among the Indycar fraternity, the Team Penske driver showed that his qualifying performance had been an abhoration by rising ten places in as many laps.
His progress was interrupted, however, when AJ Foyt brought out the third yellow on lap 30, losing the Vision Racing Dallara after contact from John Andretti when pinching his fellow American as the latter attempted to pass.
In a disappointing fluke for Vision, however, the second car of Ed carpenter was the only one to strike parts of Foyts machine as they were scattered across the track, badly damaging the right front corner. Having made it back to the pit, however, Carpenter and Vision were not about to give up, and began rebuilding the car in an attempt to rejoin and take advantage of any future carnage.
It proved to be a wise decision as, following a fourth caution to clear debris, the lap 80 restart was marred by another accident. The leaders - Kanaan heading AGR team-mate Andretti, Graham Rahal, Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon in largely grid order - had headed for pit-lane under the initial yellow, allowing rookie Jaime Camara - who had emulated countryman Castroneves' progress from the back of the field - to assume control behind the safety car and, after the first attempt at getting underway was aborted, the next effort saw five cars involved in separate incidents that would have implications for all.
